PROPERTY  OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  ELEMENTARY  SCHOOL 

BpU-LEY,  CAUFGRAIA 


RIVERSIDE  TEXTBOOKS 
IN   EDUCATION 

EDITED   BY  ELLWOOD   P.  CUBBERLEY 

PROFESSOR  OF  EDUCATION 
LELAND   STANFORD  JUNIOR   UNIVERSITY 


DIVISION  OF  SECONDARY  EDUCATION 

UNDER  THE  EDITORIAL  DIRECTION 

OF  ALEXANDER  INGLIS 


PROFESSOR  OF  EDUCATION 
HARVARD   UNIVERSITY 


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PUBLIC  EDUCATION 
IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

A  STUDY  AND  INTERPRETATION  OF 
AMERICAN  EDUCATIONAL  HISTORY 


AN  INTRODUCTORY  TEXTBOOK  DEALING  WITH 

THE  LARGER  PROBLEMS  OF  PRESENT-DAY 

EDUCATION  IN  THE  LIGHT  OF  THEIR 

HISTORICAL  DEVELOPMENT 


BY 


ELLWOOD  P.  CUBBERLEY 

PROFESSOR  OF  EDUCATION 
LELAND  STANFORD  JUNIOR  UNIVERSITY 


HOUGHTON   MIFFLIN   COMPANY 

BOSTON  NEW   YORK  CHICAGO 

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COPYRIGHT,    I9I9,   BY  ELLWOOD  P.    CUBBKRLEY 
ALL  RIGHTS   RESERVED 


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TO 

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WHOSE  HELPFUL  CRITICISMS  OF  THE  COURSE 

HAVE  SERVED  TO 

MAKE  THIS  BOOK  OF  GREATER  VALUE 


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AUTHOR'S  PREFACE 

The  history  of  education  as  an  introductory  subject  for 
students  in  normal  schools  and  colleges  has  recently  re- 
ceived much  criticism,  largely  because  it  has,  as  usually 
written  and  taught,  had  so  little  relation  to  present-day 
problems  in  education,  and  because  it  has  failed  to  "func- 
tion," to  use  a  common  expression,  in  orienting  the  prospec- 
tive teacher.  The  truth  of  such  criticisms  was  brought  out 
forcibly  by  a  recent  study  which  showed  that,  of  the  dozen 
most  commonly  used  textbooks,  only  three  gave  as  much 
as  twenty-five  per  cent  of  their  space  to  the  developments 
of  the  past  fifty  years;  that  most  of  them  devoted  the 
great  bulk  of  their  space  to  ancient  and  mediaeval  educa- 
tion and  European  development;  that  most  of  them  were 
cyclopaedic  in  character,  and  seemed  constructed  on  the 
old  fact-theory-of-knowledge  basis;  that  only  two  or  three 
attempted  to  relate  the  history  they  presented  to  present- 
day  problems  in  instruction;  that  only  one  made  any  real 
connection  between  the  study  of  the  history  of  education 
and  the  institutional  efforts  of  the  State  in  the  matter  of 
training;  and  that  practically  none  treated  the  history  of 
education  in  the  light  of  either  the  recent  important  ad- 
vances in  educational  practice  and  procedure  or  the  great 
social,  political,  and  industrial  changes  which  have  given 
the  recent  marked  expansion  of  state  educational  effort 
its  entire  meaning. 

That  the  history  of  education,  as  usually  taught,  needs 
reorganizing,  there  can  be  little  question.  That  for  be- 
ginners, at  least,  much  old  subject-matter  should  be  elim- 
inated and  much  new  subject-matter  added,  also  seems  to 
be  accepted  without  much  question.  That  it  is  too  valu- 
able a  subject  to  lose  entirely  also  seems  to  most  teachers 
to  be  true.     What  the  beginning  teacher  needs,  though,  it 


viii  AUTHOR'S  PREFACE 

seems  to  be  somewhat  generally  conceded,  is  not  a  long 
course  covering  either  the  history  of  the  evolution  of  our 
higher  civilization  or  the  various  attempts  of  educational 
reformers  to  propose  ideal  solutions  for  the  educational 
problem.  On  the  contrary,  what  is  offered  to  beginning 
students  should  be  very  practical,  should  be  closely  tied  up 
with  the  social,  political,  and  industrial  forces  which  have 
shaped  the  nineteenth  century,  and  should  help  the  teacher 
to  see  the  problems  of  the  twentieth  century  in  the  light 
of  their  historic  evolution  and  the  probable  lines  of  their 
future  development. 

Education,  with  us,  was  a  fruit  of  the  movements  which 
resulted  from  the  Protestant  Revolt  of  the  sixteenth  century, 
and  the  general  awakening  of  Europe  which  was  at  that 
time  taking  place.  Back  beyond  this  historic  event  the  be- 
ginning student  scarcely  need  go.  One  short  chapter  will 
give  the  beginner  the  necessary  historic  background,  and 
the  study  can  then  begin  with  the  transfer  of  European 
civilization  and  educational  zeal  to  our  shores.  Much 
time,  too,  need  not  be  spent  on  our  development  before  the 
first  quarter  of  the  nineteenth  century,  when  the  forces  — 
national,  state,  philanthropic,  social,  political,  and  economic 
—  which  were  potent  in  our  educational  development  first 
began  to  find  expression.  The  battle  for  taxation  for  edu- 
cation; the  battle  to  eliminate  the  pauper-school  idea;  the 
battle  to  do  away  with  the  rate  bill  and  the  fuel  tax,  and 
make  the  schools  entirely  free;  the  battle  to  establish  su- 
pervision; the  battle  to  eliminate  sectarianism;  the  battle 
to  extend  and  complete  the  system  by  adding  the  high 
school  and  the  state  university;  the  struggle  to  establish 
normal  schools,  and  begin  the  training  of  teachers;  the 
gradual  evolution  of  the  graded  system  of  instruction;  and 
the  opening  of  instruction  of  all  grades  to  women;  —  these 
are  the  great  milestones  in  our  early  national  educational 
history  which  are  of  real  importance  for  the  beginning  stu- 
dent of  education  to  know.  Of  the  educational  reformers, 
the  beginning  can  be  made  with  Rousseau,  as  the  inspirer 


AUTHOR'S  PREFACE  lx 

of  Pestalozzi's  labors.  Then  Pestalozzi,  Fellenberg,  Froe- 
bel,  and  Herbart  are  the  Europeans  whose  main  ideas  the 
student  needs  to  grasp,  and  it  was  not  until  near  the  mid- 
dle of  the  nineteenth  century  that  the  work  of  the  first  two 
of  these  began  to  be  made  known  to  us  by  returning  travel- 
ers and  to  influence  the  current  of  our  national  educational 
progress.  The  other  educational  reformers  with  whom  the 
beginning  student  should  become  familiar  are  the  practical 
constructive  American  thinkers  who  fought  through  our 
early  state  educational  battles  and  shaped  the  traditions 
of  our  American  state  school  systems. 

Up  to  the  time  of  our  Civil  War  we  were  engaged  in  lay- 
ing foundations  and  establishing  principles  of  action.  The 
great  period  of  our  educational  development  and  expansion 
has  been  since  1860,  since  which  time  we  have  twice  reor- 
ganized our  elementary  instruction,  first  in  the  light  of  the 
"faculty"  psychology  which  came  in  with  Pestalozzian 
ideas,  and  again  in  the  light  of  the  vast  and  far-reaching 
social  and  industrial  changes  of  the  past  fifty  years.  We 
probably  are  now  at  the  beginnings  of  a  third  reorganiza- 
tion, this  time  to  include  the  high  school  as  well.  The  kinder- 
garten, manual  training,  domestic  arts,  Herbartian  ideas 
have  also  come  from  abroad  since  1860,  and  been  incor- 
porated into  our  educational  theory  and  practice.  The 
great  stream  of  immigration  which  has  come  to  our  shores, 
the  vast  industrial  revolution  which  has  taken  place,  the 
destruction  of  the  old-type  home,  the  virtual  disappearance 
of  the  apprenticeship  system  of  training,  the  institution  of 
compulsory  education,  new  conceptions  as  to  the  education 
of  delinquents  and  defectives,  new  child-welfare  legislation, 
and  the  rise  of  a  rural-life  problem  of  great  dimensions,  — 
these  are  the  more  important  changes  and  forces  of  the 
past  three  decades  which  have  necessitated  extensive  modi- 
fications in  almost  every  aspect  of  our  educational  service. 
To  enable  our  schools  to  meet  these  new  problems  of  our 
changing  democratic  life,  we  have  been  forced  to  change  the 
direction  of  our  schools  and  to  adapt  the  instruction  given 


x  AUTHOR'S  PREFACE 

to  the  new  needs  and  conditions  of  society.  A  new  educa- 
tional theory  has  been  evolved,  adjustments  and  differen- 
tiations in  school  work  have  had  to  be  worked  out,  the  edu- 
cation of  defectives  and  delinquents  has  required  new 
classes  and  new  state  institutions,  child-welfare  work  has 
been  given  an  importance  before  unknown,  the  high  school 
has  had  to  be  made  over,  vocational  education  and  the 
improvement  of  agriculture  and  rural-life  conditions  have 
recently  been  made  great  national  undertakings,  the  educa- 
tion of  adults  for  literacy  and  intelligent  citizenship  has 
recently  awakened  a  wide  national  interest,  and  the  origi- 
nal one-course  colleges  have  been  transformed  into  great 
universities,  training  leaders  for  and  ministering  unto  the 
needs  of  the  State.  The  new  problems  in  education  have 
developed  so  rapidly,  and  have  become  problems  of  such 
national  importance,  that  questions  of  educational  reor- 
ganization and  educational  readjustment  — -  the  curricu- 
lum, the  organization  of  the  school,  city  education,  rural 
and  village  education,  county  organization,  state  organiza- 
tion, national  aid  and  oversight,  and  the  study  of  education 
as  a  science  —  these  and  others  have  now  everywhere  been 
pushed  to  the  front,  and  are  matters  of  everyday  discussion 
with  which  teachers  and  students  of  education  should  be 
familiar.  Within  the  past  quarter  of  a  century  we  have 
come  to  see,  with  a  clearness  of  vision  not  approached  be- 
fore, that  education  is  our  Nation's  greatest  constructive 
tool,  and  that  the  many  problems  of  national  welfare  which 
education  alone  can  solve  are  far  greater  than  the  school- 
master of  two  or  three  decades  ago  dreamed. 

To  be  familiar  with  recent  development,  to  be  able  to 
view  present-day  educational  problems  in  the  light  of  their 
historical  evolution  and  their  political  and  social  bearings, 
and  to  see  the  educational  service  in  its  proper  setting  as  a 
great  national  institution  evolved  by  democracy  to  help  it 
solve  its  many  perplexing  problems,  the  writer  holds  to  be 
of  fundamental  importance  to  the  beginning  student  of  edu- 
cation and  the  teacher  in  our  schools.    Such  a  study  offers 


AUTHOR'S  PREFACE  xi 

for  education  what  a  beginning  course  in  history  or  econom- 
ics or  science  does,  in  that  it  gives  the  student  the  cardinal 
points  of  the  compass  for  the  journey  in  the  study  of  the 
subject,  gives  the  larger  problems  of  the  field  their  proper 
historical  setting,  states  the  problems  of  the  present  and 
near  future  in  terms  which  give  them  significance,  reveals 
the  ignorance  and  prejudice  against  which  those  who  la- 
bored to  make  possible  the  educational  organization  which 
we  inherit  worked,  shows  the  relations  existing  between  the 
different  institutions  of  society  engaged  in  the  educational 
service,  reveals  the  forces  which  circumscribe  and  condition 
and  direct  and  limit  all  our  educational  endeavors,  and  sets 
forth  the  fundamental  principles  in  the  light  of  which  we  labor. 
It  is  from  such  a  point  of  view  that  this  book  has  been 
written.  The  first  chapter  gives  the  needed  European  back- 
ground; the  next  two  describe  the  establishment  of  educa- 
tion on  our  shores,  and  trace  its  development  through  the 
colonial  and  early  national  periods;  the  next  four  trace  the 
half-century  of  struggle  to  establish  education  as  a  function 
of  the  State,  and  cover  the  period  up  to  about  1850;  the  next 
two  chapters  give  the  background,  in  the  work  of  Rousseau 
and  Pestalozzi,  needed  to  understand  the  great  reorganiza- 
tion of  elementary  education  traced  in  the  chapter  which 
follows,  and  which  covered  the  period  from  1860  up  to  about 
1890;  the  far-reaching  consequences  of  the  vast  social  and 
industrial  changes  of  the  latter  half  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury are  traced  in  Chapter  XI;  and  the  four  remaining  chap- 
ters deal  with  the  twentieth-century  problems  which  have 
arisen  as  a  result  of  the  social  and  industrial  and  political 
changes  of  the  nineteenth  century,  and  the  attempts  which 
have  been  made  and  are  being  made  to  find  a  solution  for 
them.  All  but  the  first  two  chapters  deal  with  educational 
development  since  the  beginning  of  our  national  period;  two 
fifths  of  the  book  deal  with  the  period  since  1860;  and  one 
third  of  the  book  with  the  problems  which  have  arisen  since 
about  1890,  the  attempts  we  have  made  to  find  solutions  for 
them,  and  a  look  ahead. 


xn  AUTHOR'S  PREFACE 

This  book  is  the  outgrowth  of  many  years  of  work  in 
introducing  beginning  students  to  a  study  of  the  subject  of 
education.  For  the  past  twenty-one  years  I  have  given  the 
introductory  course  in  the  work  of  the  Department  of  Edu- 
cation at  the  Leland  Stanford  Junior  University.  This 
course  has  been  open  to  students  of  sophomore  grade.  At 
first  I  gave  a  course  in  the  general  history  of  education, 
beginning  with  the  ancient  civilizations  and  carrying  the 
subject  along  to  modern  times.  I  soon  came  to  feel  that 
such  a  course,  while  of  large  value  to  the  more  advanced  stu- 
dent of  education,  if  made  other  than  a  fact  course  involves 
too  mature  thinking  to  be  suitable  to  the  needs  of  the  begin- 
ning student.  Then  for  a  time  I  gave  an  introductory  course 
on  present-day  educational  theory  and  problems,  but  with- 
out the  historical  perspective.  Then  I  changed  again,  and 
for  the  past  dozen  years  have  given  the  course  substantially 
as  presented  in  the  present  volume.  In  this  last  type  of 
introductory  course  I  have  obtained  an  interest  not  awak- 
ened by  either  of  the  other  plans.  The  course  as  at  pres- 
ent given  has  been  listed  and  described  in  the  university 
announcements  as  follows: 

1.  Public  Education  in  the  United  States.  A  consideration  of 
the  more  important  present-day  problems  in  the  organization, 
administration,  and  adjustment  of  public  education  in  the  United 
States,  studied  in  the  light  of  their  historical  development.  An 
introductory  course.  Lectures,  following  a  syllabus,  with  assigned 
readings.   8  units,  Autumn  quarter.    (Cubberley.) 

After  the  completion  of  this  course  the  student,  at  Stan- 
ford, passes  to  a  second  elementary  and  introductory 
course,  dealing  with  present-day  educational  practice,  and 
entitled  "Introduction  to  the  Study  of  Education."  A  text 
covering  the  work  of  this  second  course  is  now  in  prepara- 
tion. 

A  number  of  my  former  students,  who  are  now  in  college 
and  normal-school  positions  as  teachers  of  education,  have 
taken  my  syllabus  and  have  established  similar  courses  in 
the  institutions  to  which  they  have  gone.     They  have 


AUTHORS  PREFACE  xiii 

repeatedly  urged  me  to  write  up  the  course  in -book  form, 
in  part  that  they  might  use  such  a  text  with  their  classes, 
and  in  part  that  the  course  might  find  a  wider  place  in  nor- 
mal schools  and  colleges  as  an  introductory  course.  This  I 
have  not  found  time  to  do  until  now.  In  this  new  form 
I  have  revised  and  expanded  the  old  syllabus  outline,  and 
have  tried  to  make  a  text  which  would  be  a  still  more  use- 
ful introduction  to  the  study  of  education  than  my  course 
has  been.  In  particular  I  have  tried  to  catch  the  spirit  of 
our  American  educational  development,  and  to  use  the  facts 
as  a  background  upon  which  to  paint  the  picture  which  our 
national  evolution  presents.  I  have  also  tried  to  make  the 
book  a  history  of  administrative  progress  rather  than  of 
theories  about  education. 

To  make  the  volume  of  greater  teaching  value  I  have  ap- 
pended to  the  chapters  a  series  of  questions  for  discussion, 
and  to  most  of  the  chapters  a  short  list  of  topics  for  investi- 
gation and  report.  To  make  the  references  given  of  greater 
value  I  have  selected  them  carefully,  prefixed  an  asterisk 
to  the  more  important  ones,  tried  to  indicate  their  length 
and  value  to  the  student,  and  have  omitted  all,  regardless 
of  value,  not  likely  to  be  found  in  a  small  normal-school 
or  college  library.  The  text  of  the  volume  as  it  is,  with 
the  questions  for  discussion  and  collateral  reading  selected 
from  the  references  given,  makes  a  very  satisfactory  four- 
or  five-unit  course  for  a  period  of  twelve  weeks,  or  a  three- 
unit  course  for  a  period  of  sixteen  weeks. 

Ellwood  P.  Cubberley 

Stanford  University,  Col., 
November  SO,  1918. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  I.  Our  European  Background     ....      1 

Sources  of  our  civilization  —  The  three  foundation  elements  — 
The  period  of  the  awakening  —  The  Revival  of  Learning  — 
The  new  classical  secondary  school  —  The  revolt  against  au- 
thority —  The  resulting  conflict  —  The  dominant  idea,  and  its 
educational  consequences  —  The  discovery  and  settlement  of 
America. 

Questions  for  discussion. 

CHAPTER  II.  The  Beginnings  of  American  Education    13 
I.  Origin  of  our  Type  Attitudes  toward  Education. 

Religious  origin  of  our  schools. 

1.  The  compulsory-maintenance  attitude  —  The  Puritans  in 
New  England  —  The  Massachusetts  Law  of  1642  —  The  Massa- 
chusetts Law  of  1647  —  Importance  of  these  two  laws. 

2.  The  parochial-school  attitude  —  Pennsylvania  as  a  type. 

S.  The  pauper-school,  non-Slate-interference  attitude  —  Virginia 
as  the  type  —  This  type  in  other  colonies  —  Type  attitudes  rep- 
resented by  1750. 

II.  Types  or  Schools  transplanted  and  developed. 

Transplanting  the  old  home  institutions  —  The  petty  or  dame 
school  —  Origin  of  the  school  of  the  3-Rs  —  The  Latin  grammar 
school. 

III.  General  Character  of  the  Colonial  Schools. 

Dominance  of  the  religious  purpose  —  The  textbooks  used  — 
The  New  England  Primer  —  Other  texts  —  The  teachers  —  Li- 
censing of  teachers  —  Character  of  the  early  school  instruction. 

IV.  Changes  in  Character  after  about  1750. 

The  period  of  establishment  -*■  Waning  of  the  old  religious  in- 
terest —  Changing  character  of  the  schools  —  Disintegration  of 
the  New  England  town  —  The  rise  of  the  district  system  —  Rise 
of  the  civil  or  state  school  —  European  traditions  no  longer  satisfy. 

Questions  for  discussion  —  Topics  for  investigation  and  report 
—  Selected  references. 


xvi  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  HE.  Eably  National  and  State  Attitudes    .    51 

I.  The  National  Government  and  Education. 

Effect  of  the  war  on  education  —  The  Constitution  does  not 
mention  education  —  How  the  Constitution  helped  solve  the  reli- 
gious question  —  Importance  of  the  solution  arrived  at — The  new 
motive  for  education  —  Beginnings  of  national  aid  for  education. 
II.  What  the  States  were  doing. 

The  early  state  constitutions  —  The  early  state  school  laws  — 
The  good-school-conditions  group  —  The  pauper-parochial-school 
group  —  The  no-action  group  —  State  attitudes  summarized  — 
The  North- West-Territory  States  —  Mingling  of  two  classes  of 
people  —  Educational  attitudes  in  the  North- West  States  —  No 
real  educational  consciousness  before  alBout  182TJ—  The  real 
interest  in  advanced  education  —  Character  of  the  academy 
training  —  The  colleges  of  the  time. 

Questions  for  discussion  —  Topics  for  investigation  and  re- 
port —  Selected  references. 

CHAPTER  IV.  Influences  tending  to  awaken  an  Edu- 
cational Consciousness 83 

I.  Philanthropic  Influences. 
A  half-century  of  transition  — 

1.  The  Sunday  School  Movement  —  Secular  schools  before  the 
religious. 

2.  The  City  School  Societies  —  Early  New  York  City  societies 

—  "  The  Public  School  Society  "  —  School  Societies  elsewhere. 
8.  The  Lancastrian  monitorial  system  of  instruction  —  Origin  of 

the  idea  —  Essential  features  of  the  plan  —  Value  of  the  system 
in  awakening  interest  —  Value  in  preparing  the  way  for  taxation 
for  education. 

4.  The  Infant  School  Societies  —  Origin  of  the  Infant-School  idea 

—  Infant  Schools  in  the  Eastern  cities  —  Primary  education  or- 
ganized. 

II.  Social,  Political,  and  Economic  Influences. 

1.  The  growth  of  the  cities  — Growth  of  city  population. 

2.  The  rise  of  manufacturing  —  The  beginnings  in  our  country 

—  The  industrial  transformation  —  How  manufacturing  changed 
the  position  of  the  city  —  New  social  problems  in  the  cities. 

3.  The  extension  of  the  suffrage  —  Breaking  the  rule  of  a  class 

—  Significance  of  the  election  of  Jackson  —  Educational  signifi- 
cance of  the  extension  of  the  suffrage. 

4-  New  public  demands  for  schools  —  Utterances  of  public  men 

—  Workingmen  join  in  demanding  schools. 


CONTENTS  xvii 

Questions  for  discussion  —  Topics  for  investigation  and  report 
—  Selected  references. 

CHAPTER  V.  The  Battle  for  Free  State  Schools      .118 

I.  Alignment  of  Interests,  and  Propaganda. 

Stages  in  the  development  of  a  public  school  sentiment  —  The 
alignment  of  interests  —  Arguments  for  and  against  free  schools 

—  The  work  of  propaganda  —  Propaganda  societies  —  Support 
from  associations  of  workingmen  —  Recommendations  of 
governors. 

II.  Phases  of  the  Battle  for  Free  State-supported  Schools. 

1.  The  battle  for  tax  support  —  Early  support  and  endowment 
funds  —  The  beginnings  of  school  taxation  —  Types  of  early 
permissive  legislation  —  Growth  of  public  school  sentiment  illus- 
trated by  taxation  in  Ohio  —  The  battle  for  taxation  illustrated 
by  Indiana  —  The  struggle  to  prevent  misappropriation  illus- 
trated by  Kentucky  —  State  support  fixed  the  state  system. 

2.  The  battle  to  illiminate  the  pauper-school  idea  —  The  pauper- 
school  idea  —  The  Pennsylvania  legislation  —  The  Law  of  1834 

—  The  final  victory  over  the  pauper-school  forces  —  Eliminating 
the  pauper-school  idea  in  New  Jersey. 

3.  The  battle  to  make  the  schools  entirely  free  —  The  schools  not 
yet  free  —  The  fight  against  the  rate-bill  in  New  York  —  The 
rate-bill  in  other  States  —  Other  school  charges. 

Questions  for  discussion  —  Topics  for  investigation  and  report 

—  Selected  references. 

CHAPTER  VI.  The  Battle  to  control  the  System  .      .  155 

Phases  of  the  Battle  for  State-supported  Schools,  continued. 

-4.  The  battle  to  establish  school  supervision  —  Local  nature  of 
all  early  schools  —  Beginnings  of  state  control  —  The  first  state 
school  officers  —  Early  duties;  selection  by  election  —  Curbing 
the  district  system  —  Creating  supervision  in  Massachusetts  — 
The  new  Secretary  and  his  problems  —  The  work  of  Horace 
Mann  —  Henry  Barnard  in  Connecticut  and  Rhode  Island  — 
Barnard  as  the  scholar  of  the  "awakening"  —  The  "awakening" 
elsewhere;  the  leaders. 

5.  The  battle  to  eliminate  sectarianism  —  The  secularization  of 
American  education  —  Gradual  nature  of  the  change  —  The  fight 
in  Massachusetts  —  The  attempt  to  divide  the  school  funds  — 
The  contest  in  other  States. 

Questions  for  discussion  —  Topics  for  investigation  and  report 

—  Selected  references. 


xviii  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  VII.  The  Battle  to  extend  the  System  .      .  184 
Phases  op  the  Battle  for  State-supported  Schools,  continued. 

6.  The  battle  to  establish  the  American  high  school  —  The  tran- 
sition academy  —  Characteristic  features  —  The  demand  for 
higher  schools  —  The  first  American  high  school  —  The  Massa- 
chusetts Law  of  1827  —  The  struggle  to  establish  and  maintain 
high  schools  —  Establishing  the  high  school  by  court  decisions. 

7.  The  state  university  crowns  the  system  —  The  colonial  col- 
leges —  National  interest  in  higher  education  —  Growth  of  col- 
leges by  1860  —  The  new  national  attitude  toward  the  colleges  — 
Effect  of  the  Dartmouth  College  decision  —  The  rise  of  profes- 
sional instruction  —  College  education  for  women  —  The  new 
land-grant  colleges  —  The  American  free  public  school  system 
now  established. 

Questions  for  discussion  —  Selected  references. 

CHAPTER  VIII.  Character  of  the  Schools  Established   215 
I.  Evolution  of  the  Graded  Elementary  School. 

The  American  school  of  the  3-Rs  —  New  textbooks  change  the 
character  of  the  old  instruction  —  New  subjects  of  study  appear 

—  The  elementary  school  subjects  fixed  —  Legal  aspect  of  this 
course  of  instruction  —  Early__city-cpurses  of  study  —  The  be- 
ginnings of  school  grading  —  The  divisibtt~x»Peach  school  into 
classes  —  The  transition  to  the  graded  system  a  natural  evolu- 
tion —  The  high  school  fitted  onto  the  graded  system. 

II.  The  Great  Day  of  the  District  System. 

The  district  system  in  the  cities  —  Examples  of  city-district  con- 
solidations —  Rural-district  management  —  Merits  and  defects  of 
the  district  unit. 

C General  Character  of  the  Early  Schools. 
Character  of  the  early  teachers  —  The  schoolhouses  and  their 
equipment  —  Purposes  in  instruction. 

IV.  The  Civil  War  checks  Development. 

Education  in  the  Southern  States  —  The  problem  faced  by  the 
South  —  Development  checked  and  changed  in  direction. 

Questions  for  discussion  —  Topics  for  investigation  and  report 

—  Selected  references. 

CHAPTER  IX.  New  Ideas  from  Abroad        ....  257 
I.  English  Origins  and  Early  Independence. 

Early  influences  largely  English  —  Early  French  influences 
— Our  early  isolation  and  independence  —  Educational  journal- 
ism begins. 


CONTENTS  xix 

II.  Wobk  and  Influence  of  Pestalozzi. 

The  inspiration  of  Pestalozzi  —  Pestalozzi's  educational  ex- 
periments —  The  contribution  of  Pestalozzi  —  The  consequences 
of  these  ideas  —  The  spread  and  influence  of  Pestalozzi's  work 

—  Pestalozzi's  ideas  in  Prussia  —  Pestalozzianism  in  England. 

III.  Early  American  Travelers  and  Official  Reports. 

Early  American  travelers  —  Cousin's  Report  on  German  edu- 
cation —  Influence  of  Cousin's  Report  in  the  United  States  — 
Stowe's  Report  on  Elementary  Education  in  Europe  —  Barnard, 
Bache,  and  Dr.  Julius  —  Mann's  famous  Seventh  Report  —  His 
controversy  with  the  Boston  Schoolmasters  —  The  Fellenberg  / 
manual-labor  movement  —  General  result  of  these  foreign  in-' 
fluences. 

Questions  for  discussion  —  Topics  for  investigation  and  report 

—  Selected  references. 


CHAPTER  X.  The  Reorganization  of  Elementary  Ed- 
ucation         285 

I.  The  Rise  of  the  Normal  School. 

Beginnings  of  the  teacher-training  idea  —  The  independent 
American  movement  —  Our  first  teacher-training  school  —  The 
academies  begin  teacher-training  —  Our  first  state  normal 
schools  —  Further  development  and  change  in  character. 

II.  The  Introduction  of  Pestalozzian  Methods. 

Early  beginnings  —  The  Oswego  Movement  marks  the  real 
introduction  —  Oral  and  objective  teaching  —  Language  instruc- 
tion —  Object  teaching  leads  to  elementary  science  —  Instruction 
in  geography  revolutionized  —  Mental  arithmetic  —  The  Grube 
idea  —  Writing,  drawing,  and  music  —  History  not  developed 
until  later  —  The  normal  school  finds  its  place  —  Psychology  be- 
comes the  master  science. 

III.  New  Ideas  from  Herbarttan  Sources. 

Where  Pestalozzi  left  the  educational  problem  —  The  work 
of  Herbart  —  The  aim  and  content  of  education  —  Herbartian 
method  —  The  Herbartian  movement  in  Germany  —  Herbartian 
ideas  reach  the  United  States. 

IV.  The  Kindergarten,  Play,  and  Manual  Activities. 

Origin  of  the  kindergarten  —  Spread  of  the  kindergarten  idea 
—  The  kindergarten  idea  —  The  Montessori  method  —  The  con- 
tribution of  the  kindergarten  —  Instruction  in  manual  activities 


xx  CONTENTS 

—  Manual  training  reaches  the  United  States  —  The  elementary 
school  now  reorganized  and  complete  —  Questions  for  discus- 
sion —  Topics  for  investigation  and  report  —  Selected  references. 

CHAPTER  XI.  New  Modifying  Forces 332 

I.  Changes  in  the  Character  of  our  People. 

Our  original  stock  —  The  stream  of  immigrants  begins  —  The 
north  and  west  of  Europe  migrations  —  Change  in  the  character 
of  our  immigration  —  The  United  States  to-day  a  great  cosmo- 
politan mixture  —  Assimilation  and  amalgamation. 

II.  The  Industrial  Revolution. 
Industrial  changes  since  1850 — Vast  changes  since  Lincoln's 

day  —  Changes  in  the  nature  of  living  —  Rural  life  also  greatly 
changed. 

III.  Effect  of  these  Changes  in  the  Home. 

Changes  in  the  character  of  industry — £hanges  in  the  char- 
acter of  home  life  —  The  home,  nevertheless,  has  gained  —  Weak- 
ening of  the  old  educative  influences  —  Changes  that  have  taken 
place. 

IV.  Effect  of  these  Changes  on  the  School. 

New  national  needs  make  new  demands  —  A  new  lengthening 
\    of  the  period  of  dependence  —  New  social  and  national  problems 
|   —  Beginnings  of  the  change  —  The  work  of  John  Dewey  —  Re- 
|  markable  progress  since  1898. 
'      Questions  for  discussion  —  Selected  references. 

CHAPTER  XII.  New    Educational    Conceptions    and 

Extensions 365 

I.  New  Conception  of  the  Educational  Process. 

The  old  knowledge  conception  —  Newer  conceptions  of  educa- 
tional work  —  The  new  center  of  gravity  —  The  teacher  in  the 
new  type  of  school  —  The  spirit  of  the  modern  school. 

II.  Necessary  Adjustments  and  Differentiations. 

The  average  child  —  Children  whom  average  courses  do  not  fit 

—  Flexible  grading  and  promotion  plans  —  Parallel  courses  of 
study  —  Differentiated  courses  of  study  —  Differentiated  classes 
and  schools. 

III.  The  Education  of  Delinquents. 

Compulsory  school-attendance  legislation  —  One  result  of  this 
legislation  —  Enlarging  the  educational  opportunities  of  the 


CONTENTS  xxi 

schools  —  Double  nature  of  the  problem  —  New  types  of  schools 
needed  —  State  industrial  schools. 

IV.  The  Education  of  Defectives. 

Change  in  public  attitude  —  Education  of  the  deaf  —  Educa- 
tion of  the  blind  —  Education  of  the  feebleminded  —  Other 
types  of  schools  for  defectives. 

V.  Child  Health  and  Welfare. 

The  new  interest  in  health  —  Medical  inspection  and  health 
supervision  —  Play  and  playground  activities  —  Vacation  schools 

—  School  gardening. 

VI.  Significance  of  this  Work. 

Questions  for  discussion  —  Topics  for  investigation  and  report 

—  Selected  references. 

CHAPTER  Xm.  New  Directions  of  Educational  Ef- 
fort         407 

I.  The  Expansion  of  the  High  School. 

Great  recent  development  —  Change  in  character  of  the  school 

—  Development  of  new  courses  and  schools  —  New  conceptions 
as  to  educational  needs. 

II.  The  Development  of  Vocational  Education. 

Vocational  education  in  Europe  and  the  United  States  —  Be- 
ginnings of  vocational  education  with  us  —  The  National  Com- 
mission on  Vocational  Education  —  The  commission's  findings 

—  The  Smith-Hughes  Bill  —  Vocational  guidance. 

III.  Public  School  Extension. 

Evening  schools  —  Adult  education  —  Adult  illiterates  — 
Citizenship  classes  —  The  school  as  a  community  center  — 
Agricultural  extension. 

IV.  University  Expansion  and  Extension. 

Expansion  of  the  original  college  —  Creation  of  new  chairs  and 
schools  —  Social  significance  of  this  great  expansion  —  Univer- 
sity extension. 

Questions  for  discussion  —  Topics  for  investigation  and  report 

—  Selected  references. 

CHAPTER  XIV.  Desirable  Educational  Reorganiza- 
tions        441 

Our  progress  toward  scientific  organization  —  New  directions 
during  the  past  two  decades. 


xxii  CONTENTS 

I.  The  Scientific  Study  of  Education. 

The  overcrowded  curriculum  —  Early  attempts  at  solving  the 
problem  —  Eliminating  useless  subject-matter  —  The  "project" 
idea  —  The  new  scientific  study  of  the  problem  —  A  new  ability 
to  diagnose  —  Standard  tests  as  a  basis  for  course  of  study 
eliminations  —  The  measurement  of  intelligence  —  Educational 
significance  of  intelligence  measurements. 

II.  The  Reorganization  of  School  Work. 

The  8-4  school  as  evolved  by  1890  —  First  questioning  of  the 
arrangement  —  A  new  direction  given  the  discussion  —  General 
result  of  the  discussion  —  The  6-3-3  and  the  6-3-5  plans  evolved 

—  Advantages  of  such  educational  reorganization  —  The  Flexner 
"Modern  School"  proposal  —  The  Gary  idea. 

III.  The    Reorganization   and    Redirection    of   Rural    and 

Village  Education. 

All  progress  sketched  city  progress  —  The  new  rural-life 
problem  —  Effect  of  these  changes  on  the  rural  school  —  The 
school-consolidation  movement  —  County-unit  consolidation  — 
What  such  a  reorganization  would  mean. 

IV.  State  Educational  Reorganization. 

The  chief  state  school  officer  —  Election  and  appointment  of 
experts  —  State  school  officer  and  president  of  university  com- 
pared —  Lack  of  a  consecutive  state  educational  policy  —  De- 
mocracy's need  for  leadership  —  National  aid  and  oversight. 

Questions  for  discussion  —  Topics  for  investigation  and  report 

—  Selected  references. 

CHAPTER  XV.  Fundamental  Principles  and  Problems      487 
I.  Fundamental  Principles  established 

The  national  system  evolved  —  The  essential  nature  of  educa- 
tion —  The  right  to  tax  to  maintain  —  How  far  the  State  may  go 

—  Schools  to  afford  equal  opportunity  —  State  may  compel  at- 
tendance —  The  State  may  set  standards  —  Public  education  not 
exclusive  —  The  present  conviction  of  our  people. 

II.  Education  as  a  Constructive  Tool. 

Our  characteristic  native  development  —  National  initiative 
without  responsibility  —  Why  our  educational  problem  is  difficult 

—  The  problems  our  schools  face  —  Education  a  constructive 
national  tool  —  Importance  of  the  educational  service. 

Questions  for  discussion  —  Selected  references. 

INDEX 507 


FIGURES  IN  THE  TEXT 

1.  Map,  showing  the  Results  of  Protestant  Revolts  .       .  8 

2.  Map,  showing  the  Religious  Faiths  of  the  Early  Colo- 
nists in  America 14 

8.  The  Town  School  at  Dedham 19 

4.  A  Dame  School 27 

5.  The  Boston  Latin  Grammar  School 28 

6.  A  Hornbook 30 

7.  Two  Specimen  Pages  from  the  New  England  Primer  .  31 

8.  A  Typical  Early  Schoolroom  Interior 36 

9.  A  School  Whipping-Post 36 

10.  Map,  showing  how  the  Early  New  England  Towns  were 
located 39 

11.  Showing  the  Evolution  of  the  District  System  in  Massa- 
chusetts     42 

12.  Chart,  showing  the  Evolution  of  the  Modern  State  School 
System between  44, 45 

13.  A  Congressional  Township 59 

14.  Map,  showing  the  Westward  Expansion  of  New  Eng- 
land by  1810 66 

15.  Map,  showing  Early  Attitude  assumed  toward  Public 
Education 70 

16.  Map,  showing  the  Westward  Expansion  of  New  England 

by  1840 73 

17.  A  Pennsylvania  Academy 80 

18.  The  First  Schoolhouse  built  by  the  Free  School  Society 

in  New  York  City 87 

19.  A  Lancastrian  School  in  Operation 91 

20.  Monitors  teaching  Reading 92 

21.  Monitors  inspecting  Written  Wrork  at  Signal,  "  Show 
Slates" 93 

22.  "Model"  School  Building  of  the  Public  School  Society  98 

23.  Evolution  of  the  Essential  Features  of  the  American 
Public  School  System 99 

24.  Map,  showing  Distribution  of  Industrial  Plants  in  the 
United  States  by  1833 105 


xxiv  FIGURES  IN  THE  TEXT 

25.  Map,  showing  the  Dates  of  the  Granting  of  Full  Man- 
hood Suffrage        109 

26.  Map,  showing  Results  of  the  Indiana  Referendum  of 
1848 136 

27.  Map,  showing  the  Results  of  the  Pennsylvania  School 
Elections  of  1835 143 

28.  Map,  showing  the  Results  of  the  New  York  Referendum 

of  1850 150 

29.  Map,  showing  the  Status  of  School  Supervision  in  the 
United  States  by  1861 159 

ISO.  The  Alphabet,  from  The  Columbian  Primer      .       .       .174 

\    31.  A  Typical  New  England  Academy 185 

\  32.  The  First  High  School  in  the  United  States    .       .       .190 
33.  Chart,  showing  the  Development  of  Secondary  Schools 

in  the  United  States 192 

\  34.  The  First  High  School  at  Providence,  Rhode  Island      .  195 
35.  Map,  showing  High  Schools  in  the  United  States  by 

1860 198 

^  36.  Map,  showing  Colleges  and  Universities  established  by 

1860 205 

37.  A  Summer  School 216 

38.  Frontispiece  to  Noah  Webster's  American  Spelling  Book  217 

39.  Making  the  Preliminary  Bow  to  the  Audience  .       .       .  218 

40.  A  "Sampler" 221 

41.  A  Reward  of  Merit 222 

42.  The  Boston  School  System  in  1823 226 

43.  An  "Usher"  and  his  Class 230 

44.  Exterior  and  Interior  of  a  Providence,  Rhode  Island, 
School 231 

45.  The  American  Educational  Ladder 235 

46.  The  First  Free  Public  School  in  Detroit     .       .       .       .237 

47.  How  the  District  System  organized  a  County  .       .       .  239 

48.  Map,  showing  Teacher  Training  in  the  United  States 

by  1860 242 

49.  One  of  the  "Weather-boarded  Boxes" 245 

50.  School  Desks  before  1860 245 

51.  The  German  State  School  Systems 268 

52.  Where  the  First  State  Normal  School  in  America  opened  291 

53.  The  First  State  Normal  School  Building  in  America     .  292 

54.  Growth  of  Public  and  Private  Normal  Schools  in  the 
United  States 294 


FIGURES  IN  THE  TEXT  xxv 

55.  A  Pestalozzian  Number  Chart 303 

56.  Early  Spencerian  Writing  Exercises 306 

57.  The  Decreasing  Percentage  of  Men  Teachers  .       .       .  310 

58.  Redirected  Manual  Training  325 

59.  Chart,  showing  the  Evolution  of  our  Elementary-School 
Curriculum,  and  of  Methods  of  Teaching    ....  327 

60.  Chart,  showing  the  Nationality  of  the  White  Population 

in  the  United  States  in  1790 333 

61.  Chart,  showing  Foreign-Born  in  the  United  States  in 
1910 337 

62.  Distribution  of  the  Foreign-Born,  by  States,  1910  .       .  339 

63.  What  Four  Years  in  School  paid 356 

64.  Distribution  by  Nationalities  of  Pupils  in   Two   Ele- 
mentary Schools  in  Cleveland 358 

65.  Promotional  Results  in  a  City  following  a  Course  of 
Study  adjusted  to  the  Average  Capacity  of  the  Pupils  371 

66.  The  Batavia  Plan 373 

67.  The  New  Cambridge  Plan 375 

68.  The  Differentiated-Course  Plan 376 

69.  Rev.  Thomas  H.  Gallaudet  teaching  the  Deaf  and  Dumb  386 

70.  The  American  Braille  Alphabet  for  the  Blind  .       .       .  389 

71.  Educational  Institutions  maintained  by  the  State  .       .  391 

72.  Evolution  of  the  Extensions  of  American  Public  Edu- 
cation        401 

73.  The  Destruction  of  the  Trades  in  Modern  Industry     .  413 

74.  The  Recent  Expansion  of  the  High  School  and  the 
College 419 

75.  What  Vocational  Training  and  Guidance  can  do  .       .  420 

76.  School  Attendance  of  American  Children,  Fourteen  to 
Twenty  Years  of  Age 422 

77.  Distribution  of   the  Male  Voting  Population  of  the 
United  States,  as  to  Birth  and  Ability  to  speak  Eng- 

'  lish.    (From  the  Census  of  1910) 425 

78.  Who  constitute  our  Illiterates 427 

79.  University  Extension  Work  in  Wisconsin  ....  435 

80.  A  Courtis  Score  Card  in  Arithmetic 448 

81.  The  Distribution  of  Intelligence  among  Children         .  451 

82.  The  Reorganization  of  American  Education  .       .       .  460 

83.  One  of  the  Landmarks 466 

84.  A  Consolidated  Community-Center  School       .      .       .  469 

85.  Rural  Educational  Reorganization 471 


PORTRAITS 
AND  OTHER  ILLUSTRATIONS 

facing 

Joseph  Lancaster 94 

De  Witt  Clinton 112 

Horace  Mann 166 

Henry  Barnard 167 

Caleb  MUls 170 

Rev.  Calvin  E.  Stowe 170 

Rev.  Samuel  Lewis 171 

Samuel  Galloway 171 

Mary  Lyon 194 

James  G.  Carter 194 

Jean  Jacques  Rousseau 260 

Thomas  Jefferson 260 

Pestalozzi  Monument  at  Yverdon 264 

Pestalozzi  at  Stanz *  265 

Rev.  Samuel  R.  Hall 290 

Cyrus  Pierce 290 

Rev.  Charles  Brooks 291 

Dr.  Edward  A.  Sheldon 300 

Professor  Hermann  Kriisi 300 

Dr.  William  T.  Harris 301 

Col.  Francis  W.  Parker 301 

Johann  Friedrich  Herbart 318 

Friedrich  Wilhelm  Froebel 318 

A  Kindergarten  Group 319 

An  Open-Air  Class  in  Chicago  in  Winter 394 

Medical  Inspection  in  the  School 395 

John  Dewey 454 

Charles  William  Eliot 455 


PUBLIC  EDUCATION 
IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

CHAPTER  I 

OUR  EUROPEAN  BACKGROUND 

Sources  of  our  civilization.  The  problems  which  we  are 
to-day  facing  in  our  American  education  have  not  come 
about  by  accident,  but  are  the  result  of  a  long  historical 
evolution,  and  are  best  understood  if  considered  in  the  light 
of  their  historical  development.  The  history  of  education 
is  essentially  a  phase  of  the  history  of  civilization.  School 
organization  and  educational  theory  represent  but  a  small 
part  of  the  evolution,  and  must  be  considered  after  all  as 
but  an  expression  of  the  type  of  civilization  which  a  people 
has  gradually  evolved.  The  road  that  man  has  traveled 
since  the  days  when  might  made  right  and  children  had  no 
rights  which  even  parents  were  bound  to  respect,  to  a  time 
when  the  child  is  regarded  as  of  first  importance  and  adults 
represented  in  the  State  declare  by  law  that  the  child  shall 
be  cared  for  and  educated  for  the  welfare  of  the  State,  is  a 
long  road  and  at  times  a  very  crooked  one.  Its  ups  and 
downs  have  been  those  of  the  progress  of  civilization  itself, 
and  in  consequence  any  history  of  education  must  be  in 
part  a  history  of  the  progress  of  the  civilization  of  the 
people  whose  educational  history  is  being  traced. 

The  civilization  which  we  to-day  enjoy  is  a  very  complex 
thing,  made  up  of  many  contributions,  some  large  and  some 
small,  and  from  people  in  many  different  lands  and  ages. 
To  trace  even  the  different  educational  contributions  back 
to  their  sources  might  be  interesting,  but  it  would  take  too 
long,  and  for  our  purposes  would  not  be  important.     All 


2  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

we  need  is  sufficient  background  to  give  perspective  and 
color  tp  the  sketch  cf  the  development  of  our  American 
history  and  problems  which  it  is  here  proposed  to  give. 
Even  this  takes  us  back  to  European  lands,  and  especially 
to  the  later  Middle  Ages. 

The  civilization  which  we  have  inherited  has  come  down 
to  us  from  three  main  sources,  and  in  a  fairly  continuous 
stream.  The  Greeks,  the  Romans,  and  the  Christians  laid 
the  foundations,  and  in  the  order  named.  On  these  three 
foundation  stones,  superimposed  upon  one  another,  our 
modern  European  and  American  civilization  rests.  We 
have  made  many  additions  in  modern  times,  building  an 
entirely  new  superstructure  on  these  old  foundations,  but 
the  foundations  for  the  structure  of  our  civilization  never- 
theless were  laid  by  Greece  and  Rome  and  Christianity. 

The  three  foundation  elements.  The  work  of  Greece 
underlies  all  else.  This  wonderful  people  introduced  a  new 
force  into  the  world  by  placing  a  premium  on  personal  and 
political  freedom  and  initiative,  and  by  developing  a  litera- 
ture, an  art,  and  a  philosophy  which  was  to  be  a  heritage 
to  all  succeeding  civilizations.  In  the  lines  of  culture  and 
philosophic  thought  the  world  will  always  remain  debtor 
to  this  small  but  active,  imaginative,  artistic,  and  creative 
people.  To  the  Romans  we  are  indebted  for  an  entirely 
different  type  of  inheritance.  They  were  weak  where 
Greece  was  strong,  and  strong  where  Greece  was  weak. 
Their  strength  lay  in  law  and  government  and  the  practical 
arts.  Rome  absorbed  and  amalgamated  the  whole  ancient 
world  into  one  Empire,  to  which  she  gave  a  common  lan- 
guage, dress,  manners,  religion,  literature,  and  government. 
By  imposing  law  and  order  and  government  on  an  unruly 
world,  and  unifying  the  ancient  civilizations  into  one  organ- 
ized whole,  Rome  laid  the  necessary  basis  for  the  success  of 
Christianity,  and  thus  saved  civilization  from  a  great  dis- 
aster when  the  Germanic  hordes  poured  over  her  Empire. 

Into  this  Roman  world,  united  by  Roman  arms  and 
government,  came  the  first  of  the  modern  forces  of  our 


OUR  EUROPEAN  BACKGROUND  3 

present-day  civilization  —  that  of  Christianity.  Building 
on  Greek  philosophic  ideas  and  Roman  governmental  forms, 
and  with  its  new  message  for  an  old  world,  Christianity 
forms  the  connecting  link  and  the  preserving  force  between 
the  old  and  the  new  civilizations.  A  new  ethical  force  of 
the  first  importance  was  by  it  added  to  the  effective  energies 
of  mankind,  and  a  basis  for  the  education  of  all,  not  to  be 
realized  for  centuries,  to  be  sure,  was  laid  for  the  first  time 
in  the  history  of  the  world. 

Christianity,  too,  came  at  just  the  right  time  to  enable  it 
to  organize  and  establish  itself  to  meet  and  in  time  over- 
come and  civilize  the  barbarian  deluge  from  the  North 
which,  in  the  fifth  and  sixth  centuries,  poured  over  the 
boundaries  of  the  Empire  and  almost  obliterated  the  ancient 
civilizations.  The  fall  of  the  Roman  Empire,  and  the  long 
struggle  of  the  Christian  Church  to  preserve  civilization 
from  complete  destruction  at  the  hands  of  the  Germanic 
barbarians,  is  a  story  with  which  almost  every  one  is 
familiar.  Progress  ceased  in  the  ancient  world.  The 
creative  force  of  antiquity  seemed  exhausted.  The  diges- 
tive and  assimilative  powers  of  the  old  world  were  gone. 
Greek  was  forgotten.  Latin  was  corrupted.  The  knowl- 
edge of  the  arts  and  sciences  was  lost.  Schools  disap- 
peared. Only  the  Christian  Church  remained  to  save 
civilization  from  the  wreck,  and  it  too  almost  went  under. 
It  took  ten  centuries  to  partially  civilize,  educate,  and 
reduce  to  national  order  this  heterogeneous  horde  of  new 
peoples,  and  to  preserve  enough  of  the  ancient  civilization 
so  that  the  modern  world  has  been  able  to  reconstruct  its 
main  outlines  from  the  fragments  which  remained. 

The  period  of  the  awakening.  Finally,  however,  first  in 
Italy,  and  later  in  the  new  nations  formed  from  the  tribes 
which  raided  the  ancient  Empire,  there  came  a  period  of 
awakening  and  discovery  which  led  to  a  wonderful  revival 
of  ancient  learning,  a  great  expansion  of  men's  thoughts, 
a  general  questioning  of  all  ancient  authority,  a  great  reli- 
gious awakening,  a  wonderful  period  of  world  exploration 


4  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

and  discovery,  the  founding  of  new  nations  in  new  lands, 
the  reawakening  of  the  old  Greek  spirit  of  scientific  inquiry, 
and  the  evolution  of  our  modern  civilization.  It  was  out 
of  these  new  impulses  and  forces  that  America  was  dis- 
covered; out  of  the  contests  incident  to  the  great  revolt 
against  religious  authority,  known  among  Protestants  as 
the  Reformation,  that  America  was  in  large  part  colonized; 
and  out  of  the  rediscovery  of  the  ancient  literature  and 
learning  in  the  days  of  the  Renaissance,  and  the  Protestant 
belief  in  general  education  as  a  means  to  salvation,  that  the 
early  traditions  of  American  education  were  derived.  The 
three  main  forces  to  which  we  owe  our  settlement  and  edu- 
cational beginnings  were  the  Renaissance,  the  Protestant 
Revolt,  and  the  beginnings  of  scientific  inquiry  and  world 
exploration  and  trade.  Let  us  examine  each  of  these,  briefly, 
in  order. 

The  thirteenth  century  has  often  been  called  the  wonder- 
ful century  of  the  mediaeval  world.  It  was  wonderful 
largely  in  that  the  forces  struggling  against  the  oppressive 
medievalism  which  had  grown  up  as  a  result  of  the  long  ef- 
fort of  the  Church  to  Christianize  the  barbarian  and  reduce 
him  to  some  form  of  civilized  order,  in  this  century  first  find 
clear  expression.  It  was  a  century  of  rapid  and  unmistak- 
able progress  in  every  line.  It  saw  the  evolution  of  the 
first  of  the  universities,  the  beginnings  of  modern  scholar- 
ship, the  great  era  of  guild-hall  and  cathedral  building,  a 
rapid  expansion  of  reviving  commerce,  the  rise  of  a  burgher 
and  lawyer  class,  distinct  from  the  clergy  and  the  nobility 
on  the  one  hand  and  the  craftsmen  and  apprentices  on  the 
other,  and  the  evolution  of  modern  States  and  modern  lan- 
guages as  expressive  of  the  new  feeling  of  nationality  which 
was  beginning  to  pervade  Europe.  The  fourteenth  century 
was  a  period  of  even  more  rapid  change.  New  objects  of 
interest  were  brought  to  the  front,  and  new  standards  of 
judgment  were  applied.  The  mediaeval  man,  with  his  feel- 
ings of  personal  insignificance  and  lack  of  confidence,  began 
to  give  way  to  men  possessed  of  the  modern  spirit  —  men 


OUR  EUROPEAN  BACKGROUND  5 

conscious  of  a  past  behind  and  a  future  before  them,  and 
capable  of  independence,  action,  initiative,  and  enjoyment. 
With  this  transformation  in  the  character  of  life  and  change 
in  the  nature  of  human  interests,  Europe  was  ready  for  a 
revival  of  learning. 

The  Revival  of  Learning.  The  revival  began  in  Italy, 
Petrarch  (130-1-1374)  being  regarded  as  the  first  modern 
scholar  and  man  of  letters  in  the  Western  World.  In  time 
the  old  monastic  treasures  were  brought  to  light,  the  study 
of  Greek  was  revived  in  the  West,  the  first  modern  libraries 
and  scientific  academies  were  founded,  and  the  history,  lit- 
erature, religion,  and  political  and  social  life  of  the  ancient 
world  were  reconstructed.  In  1396  the  first  professorship  of 
Greek  in  a  university  was  created  at  Florence,  then  the  center 
of  art  and  literature  and  learning  in  the  Western  World. 

So  slowly  did  new  ideas  travel  at  that  time  that  it  was 
nearly  a  century  before  this  revival  began  to  be  heard  of 
north  of  the  Alps.  A  professorship  of  Greek  was  created 
at  Paris,  in  1458;  one  at  Seville  in  Spain,  in  1473;  and  one 
at  Vienna,  in  1523.  The  German  university  of  Erfurt 
established  a  professorship  of  Poetry  and  Eloquence,  in 
1493.  Greek  came  to  Oxford  about  1490.  Very  fortunately 
for  the  spread  of  the  new  learning,  an  important  process 
and  a  great  invention  now  came  at  a  most  opportune  time. 
The  new  process  was  the  manufacture  of  paper,  obtained 
from  Mohammedan  sources,  the  first  paper-mill  being  set 
up  in  Italy,  in  1276.  By  1450  paper  was  in  common  use 
throughout  Europe,  and  the  way  was  open  for  one  of  the 
world's  greatest  inventions.  This  was  made  in  German 
lands,  the  first  engraved  page  dating  from  1423,  the  first 
movable  types  from  1438,  and  the  first  printed  book  from 
1456.  By  1475  the  printing-press  had  been  set  up  in  the 
leading  cities  of  Europe.  From  then  on  the  way  was  open 
for  a  rapid  extension  of  schools  and  learning,  and  the  press 
was  destined  in  time  to  surpass  in  importance  the  pulpit 
and  the  sermon,  and  to  become  one  of  the  world's  greatest 
instruments  for  human  progress  and  individual  liberty. 


J 


6  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

The  new  classical  secondary  school.  The  important  and 
outstanding  educational  result  of  the  revival  of  ancient 
learning  by  Italian  scholars  was  that  it  laid  the  basis  for  a 
new  type  of  school  below  that  of  the  recently  created  col- 
leges and  universities,  and  one  destined  in  time  to  be  much 
more  widely  opened  to  promising  youths  than  the  cathedral 
and  monastic  schools  of  the  Middle  Ages  had  been.  This 
new  school,  basing  its  curriculum  on  the  intellectual  in- 
heritance recovered  from  the  ancient  world  by  Italian  schol- 
ars, dominated  the  secondary-school  training  of  the  middle 
and  higher  classes  of  society  for  the  next  four  hundred  years. 
This  type  of  school  was  well  under  way  by  1450,  and  it 
clearly  controlled  education  until  after  1850.  Out  of  the 
efforts  of  Italian  scholars  to  resurrect,  reconstruct,  under- 
stand, and  utilize  in  education  the  fruits  of  our  inheritance 
from  the  Greek  and  Roman  worlds,  modern  secondary  edu- 
cation, as  contrasted  with  mediaeval  church  education, 
arose.  Classical  schools,  known  as  Court  Schools  in  Italy, 
Colleges  and  Lycees  in  France,  Gymnasia  in  German  lands, 
and  Latin  Grammar  Schools  in  England,  were  founded. 
The  reformed  Latin  Grammar  School,  founded  by  Dean 
Colet,  at  St.  Paul's  in  London,  in  1510,  thoroughly  estab- 
lished the  type,  and  was  copied  throughout  England  during 
the  succeeding  century.  Many  of  the  old  cathedral  and 
monastic  schools  of  England  were  made  over,  after  his 
model,  into  reformed  Latin  Grammar  Schools  to  teach  pure 
Latin  and  Greek  and  some  elementary  mathematics.  In 
particular  these  schools  were  to  teach  Latin  as  a  restored 
and  living  tongue.  This  type  of  secondary  school  had  be- 
come common  all  through  England  by  1600,  and  it  was  the 
type  our  early  New  England  settlers  knew  and  brought  to 
and  set  up  in  the  American  colonies. 

The  revolt  against  authority.  Another  outgrowth  of  the 
Italian  Renaissance,  and  for  the  history  of  education  in 
America  a  much  more  important  development,  was  the 
change  in  attitude  toward  the  dogmatic  and  repressive  rule 
of  the  Church  which  came  as  a  somewhat  natural  result  of 


OUR  EUROPEAN  BACKGROUND  7 

the  work  of  the  Renaissance  scholars,  the  new  life  in  Chris- 
tendom consequent  upon  the  Crusades,  the  revival  of  com- 
merce, the  rise  of  city  governments,  the  formation  of  lawyer 
and  merchant  classes,  the  founding  of  new  States,  the  evolu- 
tion of  the  university  organizations,  and  the  discovery  and 
spread  of  the  art  of  printing.  All  these  forces  united  to 
awaken  a  new  attitude  toward  the  old  religious  problems, 
and  to  prepare  Western  Europe  for  a  rapid  evolution  out 
of  the  mediaeval  conditions  which  had  for  so  long  dominated 
all  action  and  thinking.  Had  the  Church  realized  this,  and 
assumed  a  tolerant  attitude  toward  the  many  progressive 
tendencies  of  the  time,  the  whole  history  of  modern  life, 
and  particularly  the  history  of  educational  development  in 
America,  with  which  in  this  volume  we  are  to  be  particu- 
larly concerned,  might  have  been  different.  But  it  did  not, 
and  whether  we  be  Catholic  or  Protestant  makes  no  differ- 
ence with  the  facts  of  history.  So  far  as  the  Protestant 
Reformation  is  concerned,  we  may  believe  that  Luther  and 
Zwingli  and  Calvin  and  Knox  were  merely  ambitious  and 
selfish  disturbers  who  made  trouble  without  cause,  or  we 
may  go  to  the  opposite  extreme  and  believe  that  they  were 
inspired  men,  leading  the  world  back  to  a  truer  religion. 
The  facts  of  history  remain  the  same  in  either  case,  and  our 
religious  beliefs  need  in  no  way  enter  into  the  problem. 
The  great  outstanding  fact  remains  that  one  Martin  Luther, 
in  1517,  disputed  the  practices  of  the  Church,  later  defied 
its  authority,  and  was  excommunicated  by  it  in  1520;  that 
the  German  people,  and  especially  the  German  princes, 
largely  adopted  Luther's  point  of  view  and  revolted;  and 
that  the  revolt  spread  to  other  countries  in  the  North  and 
Weft  of  Europe,  and  as  a  result  the  Western  or  Roman 
Catholic  Church,  which  had  remained  one  for  so  many 
centuries  and  been  the  one  great  unifying  force  in  Western 
Europe,  was  permanently  divided.  How  much  of  Europe 
was  lost  to  the  Church  is  shown  by  the  map  on  the  following 
page. 
The  resulting  conflict.     Of  course  the  revolt  against  the 


8 


EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 


authority  of  the  Church,  once  inaugurated,  could  not  be 
easily  stopped.  This  is  nearly  always  the  case  when  revo- 
lution has  to  be  resorted  to  to  secure  progress  or  reform. 
The  same  right  of  freedom  in  religious  belief  which  Luther 
claimed  for  himself  and  his  followers  had  of  course  to  be 


Fig.  1.  Results  of  the  Protestant  Revolts 


extended  to  others.  This  the  German,  the  English,  and 
other  Protestants  were  not  much  more  willing  to  do  than 
had  been  the  Catholics  before  them.  The  world  was  not 
as  yet  ready  for  such  rapid  advances,  and  religious  toler- 
ation, though  established  in  principle  by  the  revolt,  was  an 
idea  to  which  the  world  required  a  long  time  to  accustom 


OUR  EUROPEAN  BACKGROUND  9 

itself.  It  took  a  century  and  a  half  of  intermittent  religious 
warfare,  during  which  Catholic  and  Protestant  waged  war 
on  one  another,  plundered  and  pillaged  lands,  and  killed 
each  other  for  the  salvation  of  their  respective  souls,  before 
the  people  of  Western  Europe  were  willing  to  stop  fighting 
and  recognize  for  others  that  for  which  they  were  fighting 
for  themselves.  For  still  another  century  the  world  was 
divided  into  hostile  camps  as  a  result  of  the  hatreds  engen- 
dered by  this  religious  warfare.  When  religious  toleration 
became  established  by  law,  civilization  had  made  a  tremen- 
dous advance.  The  result  of  this  long  religious  strife  was 
to  check  the  orderly  progress  of  civilization,  spread  misery 
and  suffering  abroad,  and  drive  from  the  countries  perse- 
cuted those  who  would  rather  leave  than  conform.  It  was 
from  among  these  irreconcilable  non-conformists  that  the 
early  settlers  of  most  of  our  American  colonies  were  drawn. 
The  early  educational  history  of  America  is  hardly  to  be 
understood  without  some  knowledge  of  the  different  reli- 
gious forces  and  hatreds  awakened  as  a  result  of  the  Prot- 
estant Revolt. 

The  dominant  idea,  and  its  educational  consequences. 
What  we  are  primarily  concerned  with,  however,  are  the 
educational  consequences  of  this  break  with  authority.  To 
understand  this  we  need  to  know  the  dominant  idea  under- 
lying Luther's  action,  and  for  that  matter  the  action  of 
Zwingli,  Calvin,  and  Knox  as  well.  The  idea  was  that  of 
substituting  the  authority  of  the  Bible  in  religious  matters 
for  the  authority  of  the  Church,  and  was  in  turn  one  of  the 
results  of  the  revival  of  the  study  of  Greek  and  the  recovery 
of  the  Gospels  in  the  original.  This  meant  the  substitution  V 
of  individual  responsibility  for  salvation  for  the  collective 
responsibility  of  the  Church,  and  meant  that  those  who 
were  to  be  saved,  in  theory  at  least,  must  be  able  to  read 
the  word  of  God,  participate  intelligently  in  the  Church 
service,  and  shape  their  lives  in  accordance  with  the  com- 
mands of  the  Heavenly  Father.  Whether  one  accepts  the 
Protestant  position  as  sound  or  not  depends  largely  on  one's 


10  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

religious  training  and  beliefs,  and  need  not  concern  us  here, 
as  it  makes  no  difference  with  the  course  which  history  has 
actually  taken.  We  can  believe  either  way,  and  the  course 
of  history  remains  the  same. 

The  educational  consequences  of  this  position,  though, 
were  important,  and  are  our  chief  concern.  Under  the 
older  religious  theory  of  collective  judgment  and  collective 
responsibility  for  salvation  —  that  is,  the  judgment  of  the 
Church  rather  than  that  of  individuals  —  it  was  not  im- 
portant that  more  than  a  few  be  educated.  Under  the  new 
theory  of  individual  responsibility  promulgated  by  the 
Protestants  the  education  of  all  became  a  vital  necessity. 
To  provide  this  meant  the  creation  of  an  entirely  new  type 
of  school  —  the  elementary,  for  the  masses,  and  in  the 
native  tongue  —  to  supplement  the  secondary  Latin  schools 
of  the  Renaissance  and  the  still  older  cathedral  and  monastic 
Latin  schools  for  the  education  of  those  who  were  to  become 
the  leaders  in  Church  and  State.  These  schools  were  in 
time  created,  and  the  result  of  the  evolution  in  the  centuries 
since  has  been  the  development,  all  through  Europe,  of  a 
double  school  system,  the  two  parts  of  which  —  an  elemen- 
tary school  system  for  the  masses,  and  a  secondary  school 
system  for  the  classes  —  have  but  little  in  common.  We 
in  America  started  this  way  also,  but  before  such  a  develop- 
ment had  made  much  headway  it  was  turned  aside  by  the 
rise  of  a  distinctively  American  and  democratic  spirit,  as 
will  be  explained  in  subsequent  chapters,  which  in  time 
demanded  one  common  school  system  for  all. 

The  modern  elementary  vernacular  school  then  may  be 
said  to  be  essentially  a  product  of  the  Protestant  Reforma- 
tion. This  is  true  in  a  special  sense  among  those  peoples 
which  embraced  some  form  of  the  Lutheran  or  Calvinistic 
faiths.  These  were  the  Germans,  Moravians,  Swedes, 
Norwegians,  Danes,  Dutch,  Walloons,  Swiss,  Scotch, 
Scotch-Irish,  French  Huguenots,  and  the  English  Puritans. 
As  the  Renaissance  gave  a  new  emphasis  to  the  development 
of  secondary  schools  by  supplying  them  with  a  large  amount 


OUR  EUROPEAN  BACKGROUND  11 

of  new  subject-matter  and  a  new  motive,  so  the  Reformation 
movement  gave  a  new  motive  for  the  education  of  children 
not  intended  for  the  service  of  the  State  or  the  Church,  and 
the  development  of  elementary  vernacular  schools  was  the 
result.  Only  in  England,  of  all  the  revolting  countries,  did 
this  Protestant  conception  as  to  the  necessity  of  education 
for  salvation  fail  to  take  root,  with  the  result  that  elemen- 
tary education  in  England  awaited  the  new  political  and 
industrial  impulses  of  the  latter  half  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury for  its  development.  These  educational  attitudes 
were  all  faithfully  reflected  in  the  settlement  of  the  American 
colonies,  as  we  shall  see  in  the  next  chapter. 

The  discovery  and  settlement  of  America.  The  discovery 
of  America  was  another  development  of  the  desire  for  travel 
and  discovery  awakened  by  the  Crusades,  the  revival  of 
commerce  which  now  sought  a  sea-route  to  the  riches  of  the 
Indies,  and  the  new  intellectual  life  in  Christendom  which 
stimulated  thinkers  to  question  the  old  theories  as  to  the 
shape  and  position  of  our  earth.  These  impulses  led  to  the 
perfecting  of  the  compass  in  the  fourteenth  century,  the  re- 
vival of  geographical  discovery,  the  rounding  of  the  Cape  of 
Good  Hope  (1487),  the  discovery  of  the  new  world  (1492),  and 
the  circumnavigation  of  the  globe  by  Magellan  (1519-21). 

After  the  first  century  of  exploration  of  the  new  continent 
had  passed,  and  after  the  claims  as  to  ownership  had  been 
largely  settled,  colonization  began.  The  first,  that  of 
Virginia,  was  actuated  wholly  by  gain,  and  rested  on  a  com- 
mercial basis.  This  was  also  largely  true  of  the  other  south- 
ern colonies.  To  the  northward,  however,  the  settlements 
were  mostly  due  to  the  desire  to  secure  religious  freedom, 
and  resulted  from  the  warfare  and  persecution  following  the 
Protestant  Revolt  in  Europe.  Those  who  came  to  establish 
new  homes  along  the  bleak  Atlantic  coast  did  so  that  here, 
in  a  new  land,  they  might  establish  their  churches,  order 
their  civil  life,  and  bring  up  their  children  to  worship  God 
after  the  dictates  of  their  own  conscience.  It  took  a  high 
degree  of  courage  and  deep  religious  conviction  to  cause  men, 


n  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

at  that  time,  to  take  such  a  step,  as  it  meant  the  giving  up 
of  all  the  associations  of  a  lifetime  and  the  bringing  of  their 
families  to  a  new  and  unbroken  land  to  start  life  over  again. 
The  result  was  that  the  American  colonies  settled  from 
religious  motives  were  from  the  first  peopled  by  a  splendid 
stock,  and  the  character  of  this  stock  has  repeatedly  shown 
itself  in  the  history  of  the  different  colonies  and  later  in  the 
history  of  our  Nation.  Just  what  our  different  colonists 
came  for,  what  they  tried  to  do  by  means  of  education,  what 
types  of  schools  and  educational  attitudes  they  established 
here,  and  how  their  belief  in  education  for  salvation  or  lack 
of  such  has  colored  our  whole  colonial  and  national  history, 
it  will  be  the  purpose  of  the  chapters  which  follow  to  set 
forth. 


QUESTIONS  FOR  DISCUSSION 

1.  Would  any  type  of  general  education  be  possible  among  a  people 
where  might  made  right? 

2.  Give  a  number  of  illustrations  to  show  the  presence  of  Greek  and 
Roman  elements  in  the  foundations  of  our  civilization. 

3.  Compare  the  barbarian  invasions  of  the  fifth  and  sixth  centuries  with 
the  Bolshevik  destructions  of  the  twentieth. 

4.  Why  did  it  take  so  long  for  the  revival  of  the  study  of  Greek  to  extend 
over  Western  Europe? 

5.  Show  how  the  evolution  of  Latin  higher  schools  for  the  education  of 
boys  from  the  middle  and  higher  classes  of  society  was  a  perfectly 
natural  evolution. 

6.  Show  how  the  elementary  vernacular  school  was  a  natural  outgrowth 
of  the  Protestant  Revolts  and  the  invention  of  printing. 

7.  Show  that  a  class,  instead  of  a  common  or  mass  system  of  education, 
has  been  perfectly  natural  for  European  states. 


CHAPTER  II 

THE  BEGINNINGS  OF  AMERICAN  EDUCATION 

I.  Origin  of  our  Type  Attitudes  toward  Education 
Religious  origin  of  our  schools.  Schools,  with  us,  as  with 
the  older  European  countries  from  which  our  early  settlers 
came,  arose  as  children  of  the  Church.  From  instruments 
of  religion  they  have  been  gradually  changed  into  instru-C 
ments  of  the  State.  The  first  schools  in  America  were 
clearly  the  fruits  of  the  Protestant  Revolt  in  Europe.  The 
reformers  everywhere  had  insisted  upon  the  necessity  of  the 
Gospels  as  a  means  to  personal  salvation.  This  meant, 
carried  to  its  logical  conclusion,  that  each  child,  girls  as 
well  as  boys,  should  be  taught  to  read  so  that  they  might 
become  acquainted  with  the  commandments  of  God  and 
learn  what  was  demanded  of  them.  Not  being  able  to 
realize  their  ideals  of  life  and  worship  in  the  old  home  lands, 
large  numbers  of  religious  congregations  left  Europe  and 
came  as  bodies  to  America.  Here  they  settled  in  the  wil- 
derness and  began  life  anew.  Among  other  things  they 
brought  with  them  their  European  ideas  as  to  religion  and 
the  training  of  children,  and  hence  a  European  background 
lies  behind  all  the  beginnings  of  American  education. ) 

Practically  all  of  the  early  settlers  of  America  came  from 
among  those  people  and  from  those  lands  which  had  em- 
braced some  form  of  the  Protestant  faith,  and  most  of  them 
came  to  America  to  enjoy  a  religious  freedom  impossible  in 
the  countries  from  which  they  came.  This  was  especially 
true  of  the  French  Huguenots,  who  settled  along  the  coast 
of  the  Carolinas;  the  Calvinistic  Dutch  and  Walloons,  who 
settled  in  and  about  New  Amsterdam;  the  Scotch  and 
Scotch-Irish  Presbyterians,  who  settled  in  New  Jersey,  and 
later  extended  along  the  Allegheny  Mountain  ridges  into 


14 


EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 


all  the  southern  colonies;  the  English  Quakers  about  Phila- 
delphia, and  a  few  English  Baptists  and  Methodists  in 


Fig.  2.  Showing  the  Religious  Faiths  of  the  Early  Colonists  in 

America 


eastern  Pennsylvania;   the  Swedish  Lutherans  along  the 
Delaware;  the  German  Lutherans,  Moravians,  Mennonites, 


BEGINNINGS  OF  AMERICAN  EDUCATION         15 

Dunkers,  and  Reformed-Church  Germans  who  settled  in 
large  numbers  in  the  mountain  valleys  of  Pennsylvania; 
and  the  Calvinistic  dissenters  from  the  English  National 
Church,  known  as  Puritans,  who  settled  the  New  England 
colonies,  and  who,  more  than  any  others,  gave  direction 
to  the  future  development  of  education  in  our  American 
States.  With  practically  all  these  early  religious  groups 
the  education  of  the  young  for  membership  in  the  Church, 
and  the  perpetuation  of  a  learned  ministry  for  the  congre- 
gations, immediately  elicited  serious  attention. 

Englishmen  who  were  adherents  of  the  English  national 
faith  (Anglicans)  also  settled  in  Virginia  and  the  other 
southern  colonies,  and  later  in  New  York  and  New  Jersey, 
while  Maryland  was  founded  as  the  only  Catholic  colony, 
in  what  is  now  the  United  States,  by  a  group  of  persecuted 
Catholics  who  obtained  a  grant  and  a  charter  from  Charles 
II,  in  1632.  These  settlements  are  shown  on  the  map  oppo- 
site. As  a  result  of  these  different  settlements  there  was 
laid,  during  the  early  colonial  period  of  our  country's  his- 
tory, the  foundation  of  those  type  attitudes  toward  educa- 
tion which  subsequently  so  materially  shaped  the  educa- 
tional development  of  the  different  States  during  the  early 
part  of  our  national  history.  These  type  attitudes  were 
three  in  number. 


1.  The  compulsory-maintenance  attitude 
The  Puritans  in  New  England.  Of  all  those  who  came 
to  America  during  the  early  period,  the  Puritans  who  settled 
New  England  contributed  most  that  was  valuable  for  our 
future  educational  development,  and  established  in  practice 
principles  which  have  finally  been  generally  adopted  by  our 
different  States.  Settling  along  the  New  England  coast  in 
little  groups  or  congregations,  they  at  once  set  up  a  combined 
civil  and  religious  form  of  government  which  became  known 
as  a  New  England  town.  The  "Meeting  House"  was  the 
center  of  their  civil  and  religious  life,  and  in  it  they  met 
both  as  a  religious  congregation  and  as  a  civil  government. 


/ 


16  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

The  two  were  one  in  membership  and  spirit.  Being  deeply 
imbued  with  Calvinistic  ideas  as  to  religion  and  government, 
the  Puritans  founded  here  a  series  of  little  town  govern- 
ments, but  loosely  bound  together  in  Colony  federations, 
the  corner  stones  of  which  were  religion  and  education.  The 
attitude  of  the  early  Puritans  toward  religion  and  learning 
is  well  expressed  in  the  following  extract  from  an  early  New 
England  pamphlet,  New  England's  First  Fruits,  printed  in 
London  in  1643: 

2Cfter  <£Bob  feab  carried  ttf  $afe  to  jfeeto  tfnglanb 

3tnb  toee  ftab  bfcilbeb  onr  footo*e$ 
$rotoibeb  nece?£arie0  for  otor  lineli  boob 
ftearb  convenient  placed  for  <£ob|  toor^fcip 
3Cnb  j&'etleb  tbe  cibitt  government 
<©ne  of  tfoe  nert  tbingg  toe  longeb  for 
2Cnb  loofteb  after  torn?  to  abuance  learnin0 
3Cnb  perpetrate  it  to  posterity 
^reabino  to  leane  an  illiterate  ministry 
<3to  tfce  cfcurcbe*  tofcen  ofcr  present  minij&terg 
&&atf  lie  in  t&e  ©ttft. 

At  first  home  instruction  and  apprenticeship  training  were 
depended  upon  to  furnish  the  necessary  ability  to  read  and 
to  participate  in  the  home  and  church  religious  services,  the 
great  religious  purpose  which  had  brought  the  colonists  to 
America  being  the  motive  which  was  to  insure  such  instruc- 
tion. In  addition,  the  town  religious  governments  began 
the  voluntary  establishment  of  town  Latin  Schools  to  pre- 
pare boys  for  the  college  (Harvard)  which  the  colonial  legis- 
lature had  established,  in  1636.  In  this  establishment  in 
the  wilderness  of  New  England  of  a  typical  English  educa- 
tional system  of  the  time  —  that  is,  private  instruction  in 
reading  and  religion  in  the  homes  and  by  the  master  of 
apprentices,  Latin  grammar  schools  in  the  larger  towns  to 
prepare  boys  for  the  colony  college,  and  an  English-type 
college  to  prepare  ministers  for  the  churches  —  we  see  mani- 
fested the  deep  Puritan-Calvinistic  zeal  for  education  as  a 
bulwark  of  Church  and  State.  As  in  England,  the  system 
was  voluntary,  and  clearly  subordinate  to  the  Church. 


BEGINNINGS  OF  AMERICAN  EDUCATION        17 

The  Massachusetts  Law  of  1642.  It  early  became  evi- 
dent, however,  that  these  voluntary  efforts  on  the  part  of 
the  people  and  the  towns  would  not  be  sufficient  to  insure 
that  general  education  which  was  required  by  the  Puritan 
religious  theory.  Under  the  hard  pioneer  conditions  and 
the  suffering  which  ensued,  many  parents  and  masters  of  ap- 
prentices apparently  proved  neglectful  of  their  educational 
duties.  Accordingly  the  leaders  in  the  Puritan  Church 
appealed  to  what  was  then  their  servant,  the  State  as  rep- 
resented in  the  colonial  legislature,  to  assist  them  in  com- 
pelling parents  and  masters  to  observe  their  obligations.  The 
result  was  the  famous  Massachusetts  Law  of  1642,  which  ." 
directed  the  officials  of  each  town  to  ascertain,  from  time  to 
time,  if  parents  and  masters  were  attending  to  their  educa- 
tional duties;  if  all  children  were  being  trained  "in  learning 
and  labor  and  other  employments  profitable  to  the  Com- 
monwealth"; and  if  the  children  were  being  taught  "to  read 
and  understand  the  principles  of  religion  and  the  capital 
laws  of  the  country."  The  officers  were  empowered  to  im- 
pose fines  on  those  who  failed  to  give  proper  instruction,  or 
to  report  to  the  officer  when  required.  This  Law  of  1642 
is  remarkable  in  that,  for  the  first  time  in  the  English-speak- 
ing world,  a  legislative  body  representing  the  State  ordered 
that  all  children  should  be  taught  to  read.  This  was  a 
distinctively  Calvinistic  contribution  to  our  new-world  life, 
and  a  contribution  of  large  future  importance. 

The  Massachusetts  Law  of  1647.  The  Law,  however, 
did  not  establish  schools,  nor  did  it  direct  the  employment 
of  schoolmasters.  After  true  English  fashion,  the  provi- 
sion of  education  was  still  left  with  the  homes.  The  results 
still  continuing  unsatisfactory,  five  years  later  the  colonial 
legislature  enacted  the  famous  Law  of  1647,  by  means  of 
which  it  has  been  asserted  that  "  the  Puritan  government  of 
Massachusetts  rendered  probably  its  greatest  service  to  the 
future."  After  recounting  in  a  preamble  that  it  had  in  the 
past  been  "one  chief  point  of  that  old  deluder,  Satan,  to 
keep  men  from  a  knowledge  of  the  Scriptures  ...  by  keep- 


IS  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

ing  them  in  an  unknown  tongue,"  so  now  "by  persuading 
from  the  use  of  tongues,"  .  .  .  learning  was  in  danger  of 
"being  buried  in  the  grave  of  our  fathers  in  church  and 
commonwealth,"  the  Law  then  ordered: 

1.  That  every  town  having  50  householders  should  at  once 
appoint  a  teacher  of  reading  and  writing,  and  provide  for  his 
wages  in  such  manner  as  the  town  might  determine;  and 

2.  That  every  town  having  100  householders  must  provide  a 
(Latin)  grammar  school  to  fit  youths  for  the  university,  under  a 
penalty  of  £5  for  failure  to  do  so. 

This  Law  represents  a  distinct  advance  over  the  Law  of 
1642.  The  State  here,  acting  again  as  the  servant  of  the 
Church,  enacted  a  law  for  which  there  were  no  English  pre- 
cedents. Not  only  was  a  school  system  ordered  established 
—  elementary  for  all  towns  and  children,  and  secondary 
for  the  youths  in  the  larger  towns  —  but,  for  the  first  time 
among  English-speaking  people,  there  was  the  assertion  of 
the  right  of  the  State  to  require  communities  to  establish 
and  maintain  schools,  under  penalty  of  a  fine  if  they  refused 
to  do  so. 

Importance  of  these  two  laws.  It  can  safely  be  asserted 
that  these  two  Massachusetts  laws  of  1642  and  1647  repre- 
sent not  only  new  educational  ideas  in  the  English-speaking 
world,  but  that  they  also  represent  the  very  foundation 
stones  upon  which  our  American  public  school  systems 
have  been  constructed. 

Mr.  Martin,  the  historian  of  the  Massachusetts  public 
school  system,  states  the  fundamental  principles  which 
underlie  this  legislation  as  follows: 

1.  The  universal  education  of  youth  is  essential  to  the  well- 
being  of  the  State. 

2.  The  obligation  to  furnish  this  education  rests  primarily  upon 
the  parent. 

3.  The  State  has  a  right  to  enforce  this  obligation. 

4.  The  State  may  fix  a  standard  which  shall  determine  the  kind 
of  education,  and  the  minimum  amount. 


BEGINNINGS  OF  AMERICAN  EDUCATION         19 


5.  Public  money,  raised  by  a  general  tax,  may  be  used  to  pro- 
vide such  education  as  the  State  requires.  This  tax  may  be 
general,  though  the  school  attendance  is  not. 

C.  Education  higher  than  the  rudiments  may  be  supplied  by  the 
State.  Opportunity  must  be  provided,  at  public  expense, 
for  youths  who  wish  to  be  fitted  for  the  university. 

Mr.  Martin  then  adds  the  following  significant  comment : 

It  is  important  to  note  here  that  the  idea  underlying  all  this 
legislation  was  neither  paternalistic  nor  socialistic.  The  child  is 
to  be  educated,  not  to  advance  his  personal  interests,  but  because 
the  State  will  suffer  if  he  is  not  educated.  The  State  does  not  pro- 
vide schools  to  relieve  the  parent,  nor  because  it  can  educate  better 
than  the  parent  can,  but  because  it  can  thereby  better  enforce  the 
obligation  which  it  imposes. 

These  laws  became  the  basis  for  legislation  in  all  the 
other  New  England  colonies,  except  Rhode  Island,  which 
had  been  founded  on  the  basis  of  religious  freedom,  and  the 
conceptions  as  to  the  establishment  and  maintenance  of 
schools  which  they  embodied  deeply  influenced  the  educa- 
tional development  of  all 
the  States  to  which  New 
England  people  later  mi- 
grated in  any  numbers. 

In  New  England,  then, 
was  established  the  first  of 
the  three  important  type 
attitudes  to  which  we  ear- 
lier referred, — that  of  the 
State  compelling  the  towns 
to  establish  schools,  and 


Fio.  3.  Town  School  at  Dedham, 
Massachusetts,  built  in  1648 


parents  to  send  their  children  to  school  to  learn  to  read 
and  to  receive  instruction  in  religion.  The  State  here,  act- 
ing as  the  servant  of  the  Church,  enacted  legislation  which 
formed  a  precedent  and  fixed  a  tradition  as  to  school  man- 
agement and  support  which  was  retained  long  after  State 
and  Church  had  parted  company. 


20  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

2.  The  parochial-school  attitude 

Pennsylvania  as  a  type.  In  New  England  the  Puritan- 
Calvinists  had  had  a  complete  monopoly  of  both  Church 
and  State.  Into  the  middle  colonies,  best  represented  by 
Pennsylvania,  there  had  come  a  mixture  of  peoples  repre- 
senting different  Protestant  faiths,  and  no  such  monopoly 
was  possible  in  these  colonies.  The  English  and  Dutch  had 
mixed  in  New  York;  the  English,  Dutch,  Swedes,  Scotch- 
Irish,  and  Germans  had  settled  in  New  Jersey;  while  in 
Pennsylvania,  which  Penn  had  founded  on  the  basis  of 
religious  freedom,  a  large  number  of  English  and  German 
Protestant  sects  had  settled.  All  were  Protestant  in  faith, 
though  representing  different  creeds  and  nationalities;  all 
believed  in  the  importance  of  being  able  to  read  the  Bible  as 
a  means  to  personal  salvation;  and  all  made  efforts  looking 
toward  the  establishment  of  schools  as  a  part  of  their  church 
organizations.  Unlike  New  England,  though,  no  sect  was  in 
a  majority.  Church  control  by  each  denomination  was,  as  a 
result,  considered  to  be  most  satisfactory,  and  hence  no  ap- 
peal to  the  State  was  made  by  the  churches  for  assistance 
in  carrying  out  their  religious  purposes*  The  clergymen 
were  usually  the  teachers  in  the  parochial  schools  estab- 
lished, while  private  pay  schools  were  opened  in  a  few  of  the 
larger  towns.  These,  as  were  the  church  services,  were  con- 
ducted in  the  language  of  the  different  immigrants.  Girls 
were  educated  as  well  as  boys,  the  emphasis  being  placed 
on  reading,  writing,  counting,  and  religion,  rather  than 
upon  any  form  of  higher  training. 

The  result  was  the  development  in  Pennsylvania,  and  to 
some  extent  in  the  other  middle  colonies  as  well,  of  a  policy 
of  depending  upon  Church  and  private  effort  for  educa- 
tional advantages,  and  the  provision  of  education,  aside 
from  certain  rudimentary  and  religious  instruction  thought 
necessary  for  religious  purposes,  was  left  largely  for  those 
who  could  afford  to  pay  for  the  privilege. 

Under  the  freedom  allowed  many  communities  made  but 


BEGINNINGS  OF  AMERICAN  EDUCATION         21 

indifferent  provisions,  or  allowed  their  schools  to  lapse 
entirely.  In  the  primitive  conditions  of  the  time  the  inter- 
est even  in  religious  education  frequently  declined  almost  to 
the  vanishing  point.  Two  attempts  were  made,  later  on, 
to  enforce  the  maintenance  of  schools  in  the  colony;  but  one 
was  vetoed  by  William  and  Mary  as  foreign  to  English  prac- 
tices, and  the  other  proved  unenforceable.  In  consequence, 
Pennsylvania  settled  down  to  a  policy  of  leaving  education 
to  private  and  parochial  effort,  and  in  time  this  attitude 
became  so  firmly  established  that  the  do-as-you-please  idea 
persisted  up  to  1834,  and  was  only  overcome  then  after 
bitter  opposition.  In  New  Jersey  and  New  York  this  same 
policy  prevailed  during  the  whole  of  the  colonial  period. 
Each  parochial  group  did  as  it  wished,  and  private  and 
church  effort,  in  pay  and  charity  schools,  provided  prac- 
tically all  the  educational  facilities  available  until  well  into 
our  national  period. 

3.  The  pauper-school  non-state-interference  attitude 
Virginia  as  the  type.  In  the  settlement  of  Virginia  and 
the  southern  colonies,  almost  all  the  attending  conditions 
were  in  contrast  with  those  of  the  New  England  colonies. 
The  early  settlers  were  from  the  same  class  of  English 
people,  but  with  the  important  difference  that,  whereas  the 
New  England  settlers  were  dissenters  from  the  English 
National  Church  and  had  come  to  America  to  obtain  free- 
dom in  religious  worship,  the  settlers  in  Virginia  were  ad- 
herents of  that  Church  and  had  come  to  America  for  gain. 
The  marked  differences  in  climate  and  possible  crops  led  to 
the  large-plantation  type  of  settlement,  instead  of  the  com- 
pact little  New  England  town;  the  introduction  of  numbers 
of  "indentured  white  servants,"  and  later  negro  slaves,  led 
to  the  development  of  classes  in  society  instead  of  to  the 
New  England  type  of  democracy,  making  common  schools 
impossible;  and  the  lack  of  any  strong  religious  motive  for 
education  naturally  led  to  the  adoption  of  English  practices 
instead  of  the  development  of  distinctively  colonial  schools. 


*<: 


22  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

The  tutor  in  the  home,  education  in  small  private  and  se- 
lect pay-schools,  or  education  in  the  mother  country  for  the 
sons  of  the  well-to-do  planters  were  the  prevailing  methods 
adopted  among  the  wealthier  people,  while  the  poorer 
classes  were  left  with  only  such  advantages  as  apprentice- 
ship training  and  the  few  pauper  schools  of  the  time  might 
provide. 

Practically  all  the  Virginia  colonial  legislation  relating 
to  education  refers  either  to  William  and  Mary  College, 
founded  in  1693,  or  to  the  education  of  orphans  and  the  chil- 
dren of  the  poor.  Both  these  interests  were  typically  Eng- 
lish. The  seventeenth-century  legislation  included  the  com- 
pulsory apprenticeship  of  the  children  of  the  poor,  training  in 
a  trade,  the  requirement  that  the  public  authorities  must 
provide  opportunities  for  this  type  of  education,  and  the  use 
of  both  local  and  colony  funds  for  the  purpose  —  all,  as  the 
Statutes  state,  "  according  to  the  aforesaid  laudable  custom 
in  the  Kingdom  of  England."  It  was  not  until  1705  that 
Virginia  reached  the  point  reached  by  Massachusetts  in 
1642  of  requiring  that  "the  master  of  the  [apprenticed] 
orphan  shall  be  obliged  to  teach  him  to  read  and  write." 
During  the  entire  colonial  period  the  indifference  of  the 
mother  country  to  general  education  was  steadily  reflected 
in  Virginia  and  the  other  colonies  which  followed  the  Eng- 
lish example.  As  in  the  mother  country,  education  was  not 
considered  as  any  business  of  the  State,  nor  did  the  Church 
give  any  great  attention  to  it.  Virginia  thus  stands  as 
the  clearest  example  of  the  third  type  of  colonial  attitude 
toward  education,  —  viz.,  tutors  and  private  schools  for 
those  who  could  afford  them,  church  charity  schools  for 
some  of  the  children  of  the  poorer  members,  but  no  State 
interest  in  the  problem  of  education  except  to  see  that 
Drphans  and  children  of  the  very  poor  were  properly  ap- 
prenticed and  trained  in  some  useful  trade,  which  in  Vir- 
ginia usually  was  agriculture. 

This  type  in  other  colonies.  In  the  other  American  col- 
onies  which   followed   the   example  of   Virginia  —  New 


BEGINNINGS  OF  AMERICAN  EDUCATION        23 

York,  New  Jersey,  Delaware,  Maryland,  the  Carolinas,  and 
Georgia  —  the  English  charity-school  idea  largely  domi- 
nated such  education  as  was  provided,  with  the  apprentic- 
ing of  orphans  a  prominent  feature.  The  "Society  for  the 
Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts,"  an  English 
society,  chartered  in  1701,  to  act  as  an  auxiliary  of  the 
Church  of  England  "  to  train  children  in  the  tenets  and  wor- 
ship of  the  Church,  through  the  direct  agency  of  schools," 
provided  for  these  Anglican  colonies  probably  the  best 
charity  schools  in  America  during  the  later  colonial  period. 
The  work  of  this  Society  in  New  York  was  specially  note- 
worthy, though  valuable  work  was  done  in  other  colonies. 
Its  schoolmasters  were  well  selected  and  sound  in  the  faith, 
and  the  children  were  taught  reading,  writing,  a  little  arith- 
metic, the  catechism,  and  the  religious  observances  of  the 
English  National  Church.  The  church  charity  schools  of 
this  Society  furnished  the  nearest  approach  to  a  free  school 
system  found  in  the  Anglican  colonies  before  the  Revolution. 
They  were,  though,  only  for  a  class,  being  usually  open  only 
to  the  children  of  the  poorer  communicants  in  the  Anglican 
Church. 

Type  attitudes  represented  by  1750.  The  seventeenth 
century  witnessed  the  transplanting  of  European  ideas  as  to 
government  and  religion  and  education  to  the  New  Ameri- 
can colonies,  and  by  the  eighteenth  century  we  find  three 
clearly  marked  types  of  educational  practice  or  conceptions 
as  to  educational  responsibility  established  on  American  soil. 

The  first  was  the  strong  Calvinistic  conception  of  a  re- 
ligious State,  supporting  a  system  of  common  schools, 
higher  Latin  schools,  and  a  college,  both  for  religious  and 
civic  ends.  This  type  dominated  New  England,  and  is 
best  represented  by  Massachusetts.  From  New  England 
it  spread  westward,  and  deeply  influenced  the  educational 
development  of  all  States  to  which  New  England  people 
migrated.  It  was  the  educational  contribution  of  Calvinism 
to  America.  Out  of  it,  by  the  later  separation  of  Church  and 
State,  our  modern  state  school  systems  have  been  evolved. 


24  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

The  second  was  the  parochial  school  conception  of  the 
Dutch,  Moravians,  Mennonites,  German  Lutherans,  Ger- 
man-Reformed Church,  Quakers,  Presbyterians,  Baptists, 
and  Catholics.  This  type  is  best  represented  by  Protestant 
Pennsylvania  and  Catholic  Maryland.  It  stood  for  church 
control  of  all  educational  effort,  resented  state  interference, 
was  dominated  only  by  church  purposes,  and  in  time  came 
to  be  a  serious  obstacle  in  the  way  of  state  organization  and 
control. 

The  third  type,  into  which  the  second  type  tended  to  fuse, 
was  the  attitude  of  the  Church  of  England,  which  conceived 
of  public  education,  aside  from  collegiate  education,  as  in- 
tended chiefly  for  orphans  and  the  children  of  the  poor,  and 
as  a  charity  which  the  State  was  under  little  or  no  obliga- 
tion to  assist  in  supporting.  All  children  of  the  upper  and 
middle  classes  in  society  attended  private  or  church  schools, 
or  were  taught  by  tutors  in  their  homes,  and  for  such  in- 
struction paid  a  proper  tuition  fee.  Paupers  and  orphans,  in 
limited  numbers  were,  for  a  limited  time,  provided  with  some 
form  of  useful  education  at  the  expense  of  either  the  Church 
or  the  State. 

These  three  types  or  attitude  toward  public  education  be- 
came fixed  American  types,  and  deeply  influenced  subse- 
quent American  educational  development,  as  we  shall  see  in 
the  chapters  which  follow. 

II.  Types  of  Schools  transplanted  and  developed 
Transplanting  the  old  home  institutions.  At  the  time  the 
early  colonists  came  to  America  the  parish  elementary  school 
for  religious  training  had  become  an  established  institu- 
tion in  German  lands,  while  in  England  three  main  types 
of  schools  had  been  developed.  All  of  these  were  trans- 
planted to  America,  and  established  here  in  much  the  same 
form  that  they  had  developed  in  the  home  lands.  The 
Dutch  in  New  Amsterdam,  the  Swedes  along  the  Delaware, 
and  the  different  German  sects  in  Pennsylvania  and  the 
other  colonies  where  they  settled,  reproduced  in  America  the 


BEGINNINGS  OF  AMERICAN  EDUCATION        25 

Lutheran  parish  school  of  Europe,  with  its  instruction  in 
reading,  singing,  religion,  and  sometimes  writing,  and  taught 
usually  by  the  pastor,  but  sometimes  by  the  sexton  or  other 
teacher.  This  type  of  school  continued  largely  unchanged 
throughout  the  whole  of  the  colonial  period.  The  English, 
who  formed  the  great  bulk  of  the  early  immigrants  to  the 
American  colonies,  reproduced  in  the  different  colonies  the 
main  types  of  schools  at  that  time  existing  in  the  mother 
country.  These  were  the  petty  or  dame  school,  the  writ- 
ing school,  and  the  Latin  grammar  school  for  those  who 
could  afford  to  pay  for  education;  the  charity  or  pauper  ele- 
mentary school  for  a  limited  number  of  indigents;  and  ap- 
prenticeship training  for  orphans  and  the  children  of  pauper 
parents.  The  first  three  became  the  characteristic  schools  of 
New  England,  and  the  last  two  largely  characterized  the  Eng- 
lish educational  work  in  the  central  and  southern  colonies. 
It  was  these  English-type  schools,  rather  than  the  conti- 
nental European  type  of  parochial  school  of  the  central 
colonies,  which  exerted  the  greatest  influence  on  our  early 
American  educational  development. 

The  petty  or  dame  school.  The  dame  school  was  a  very 
elementary  school,  kept  in  a  kitchen  or  living  room  by  some 
woman  who,  in  her  youth,  had  obtained  the  rudiments  of  an 
education,  and  who  now  desired  to  earn  a  pittance  for  her- 
self by  imparting  to  the  children  of  her  neighborhood  her 
small  store  of  learning.  For  a  few  pennies  a  week  the  dame 
took  the  children  of  neighbors  into  her  home  and  explained 
to  them  the  mysteries  connected  with  learning  the  begin- 
nings of  reading  and  spelling.  Occasionally  a  little  writing 
and  counting  also  was  taught,  but  not  often.  Originating 
in  England  after  the  Reformation,  and  introduced  into  New 
England  by  the  early  colonists,  it  flourished  greatly  in 
America  during  the  eighteenth  century,  while  in  England 
it  continued  popular  until  well  into  the  nineteenth.  While 
men  teachers  were  employed  at  first  in  the  town  schools, 
the  dame  school  soon  became  the  primary  school  of  colonial 
New  England,  and  instruction  in  the  A  B  Cs  and  the  ele- 


26  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

ment3  of  reading  and  writing  in  it  became  a  prerequisite  for 
admission  to  the  town  grammar  school. 

Origin  of  the  school  of  the  3-Rs.  The  second  type  ot 
school  brought  over  was  the  writing  school,  a  school  in 
which  writing,  reckoning,  and  the  simplest  elements  of  mer- 
chants' accounts  were  taught.  The  masters  in  this  also  gave 
instruction  in  writing  to  the  boys  in  the  third  type  of  school 
brought  over  —  the  Latin  grammar  school.  Sometimes 
the  instruction  was  given  in  a  separate  school,  taught  by  a 
"scrivener"  and  arithmetic  teacher,  and  sometimes  the 
writing  and  reckoning  were  taught  by  a  peripatetic  scrive- 
ner, who  moved  about  as  business  seemed  to  warrant.  The 
writing  school  never  became  common  in  New  England,  as 
the  exigencies  of  a  new  and  sparsely  settled  country  tended 
to  force  a  combination  of  the  dame  and  the  writing  school 
into  one,  thus  forming  the  school  of  the  so-called  3-Rs  — 
"Readin,  Ritin,  and  Rithmetic"  —  from  which  our  ele- 
mentary schools  later  were  evolved.  Among  the  Dutch, 
Quakers,  and  Germans  of  the  middle  colonies  as  well  this 
combination  was  commonly  found  in  their  parochial  schools, 
and  from  it  their  elementary  schools  also  evolved. 

The  Latin  grammar  school.  The  third  type  of  school 
brought  over,  and  for  New  England  the  important  school 
of  the  early  period,  was  the  Latin  grammar  school.  In  this 
the  great  teachers  of  the  early  time  were  found.  By  this 
was  meant  a  school  for  beginners  in  Latin,  still  the  sacred 
language  of  religion  and  learning,  and  upon  the  study  of 
which  the  main  energy  of  the  schools  was  spent.  The  school 
took  the  boy  from  the  dame  school  at  the  age  of  seven  or 
eight,  and  prepared  him  for  entrance  to  college  at  fifteen, 
or  thereabout,  the  boy  in  the  meantime  having  learned  to 
read,  write,  and  make  his  own  quill  pens,  and  having  mas- 
tered sufficient  Latin  to  enter  the  college  of  the  colony. 
He  was  usually  ignorant  of  numbers,  and  was  usually  un- 
able to  write  English  with  any  degree  of  fluency  or  accuracy. 
He  was,  however,  well  schooled  in  the  Latin  tongue,  and  usu- 
ally in  the  elements  of  Greek  as  well.    The  purpose  of  the 


28 


EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 


Latin  school  is  well  stated  by  the  admission  requirements  of 
Harvard  College,  in  1642,  which  read: 

When  any  Scholler  is  able  to  understand  Tully,  or  such  like 
classicall  Latine  author  extempore,  and  make  and  speake  true 
Latine  in  verse  and  prose,  suo  ut  aiunt  Marte:  and  decline  perfectly 
the  paradigms  of  nounes  and  verbes  in  the  Greek  tongue:  let  him 
then,  and  not  before,  be  capable  of  admission  into  the  Colledge. 

The  Latin  grammar  school  attained  its  greatest  develop- 
ment in  New  England,  where  such  schools  had  been  re- 
quired by  the  law  of 
1647,  and  where  the 
attitude  toward  classi- 
cal study  was  distinctly 
more  friendly  than  in 
the  colonies  to  the  south- 
ward. Latin  grammar 
schools  were,  however, 
found  here  and  there  in 
the  few  large  towns  of 
the  middle  and  southern 
colonies,  though  in  these 
the  commercial  demands 
early  made  themselves 
felt,  and  the  tendency  in 
the  higher  schools  was 
toward  the  introduction 
of  more  practical  studies,  such  as  merchants'  accounts,  navi- 
gation, surveying,  and  the  higher  mathematics.  This  in 
time  led  to  the  evolution  of  a  distinctively  American  type 
of  higher  school,  with  a  more  practical  curriculum  —  the 
Academy  —  and  this  in  time  displaced  the  Latin  grammar 
school,  even  in  New  England. 

III.  General  Character  of  the  Colonial  Schools 

Dominance  of  the  religious  purpose.  The  most  promi- 
nent characteristic  of  all  the  early  colonial  schooling  was  the 
predominance  of  the  religious  purpose  in  instruction.    One 


Fig.  5.  The  Boston  Latin  Grammar 
School 

Showing  the  school  as  it  was  in  Cheever's  day, 
with  King's  Chapel  on  the  left,  the  school  facing 
on  School  Street. 


BEGINNINGS  OF  AMERICAN  EDUCATION         29 

learned  to  read  chiefly  the  Catechism  and  the  Bible,  and  to 
know  the  will  of  the  Heavenly  Father.  There  was  scarcely 
any  other  purpose  in  the  maintenance  of  elementary  schools. 
In  Connecticut  colony  the  law  required  that  the  pupils  were 
to  be  made  "in  some  competent  measure  to  understand  the 
main  grounds  and  principles  of  Christian  Religion  necessary 
to  salvation,"  and  "to  learn  some  orthodox  catechism." 
In  the  grammar  schools  and  the  colleges  students  were  in- 
structed to  consider  well  the  main  end  of  life  and  studies. 
These  institutions  existed  mainly  to  insure  a  supply  of 
learned  ministers  for  service  in  the  Church  and  the  State. 
Such  studies  as  history,  geography,  science,  music,  drawing, 
secular  literature,  and  physical  training  were  unknown. 
Children  were  constantly  surrounded,  week  days  and  Sun- 
days, by  the  somber  Calvinistic  religious  atmosphere  in 
New  England,  and  by  the  careful  religious  oversight  of  the 
pastors  and  elders  in  the  colonies  where  the  parochial  school 
system  was  the  ruling  plan  for  education.  Schoolmasters 
were  required  "to  catechise  their  scholars  in  the  principles 
of  the  Christian  religion,"  and  it  was  made  "a  chief  part  of 
the  schoolmaster's  religious  care  to  commend  his  scholars 
and  his  labors  amongst  them  unto  God  by  prayer  morning 
and  evening,  taking  care  that  his  scholars  do  reverently 
attend  during  the  same. "f  Religious  matter  constituted  the 
only  reading  matter,  outside  of  the  instruction  in  Latin  in 
the  grammar  schools.  \  The  Catechism  was  taught  and  the 
Bible  was  read  and  expounded.  Church  attendance  was  re- 
quired, and  grammar  school  pupils  were  obliged  to  report 
each  week  on  the  Sunday  sermon.  This  insistence  on  the 
religious  element  was  more  prominent  in  Calvinistic  New 
England  than  in  the  colonies  to  the  south,  but  everywhere 
the  religious  purpose  was  dominant.  The  church  paro- 
chial and  charity  schools  were  essentially  schools  for  in- 
stilling the  church  practices  and  the  beliefs  of  the  churches 
maintaining  them.  This  state  of  affairs  continued  well 
toward  the  beginning  of  our  national  period. 
This  dominance  of  the  religious  purpose  was  well  shown 


30 


EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 


in  the  textbooks  used  for  instruction.  Down  to  the  time 
of  the  American  Revolution  these  were  English  in  their 
origin  and  religious  in  their  purpose.  The  Hornbook,  the 
Primer,  the  Psalter,  the  Testament,  and  the  Bible  were  the 
books  used.  It  was  not  until  about  the  time  of  the  Revo- 
lution that  the  first  American  secu- 
lar textbook  appeared. 

The  textbooks  used.  Instruc- 
tion at  first  everywhere  began  with 
the  Hornbook,  from  which  children 
learned  their  letters  and  began  to 
read.  This  was  a  thin  board  on 
which  a  printed  leaf  was  pasted, 
and  this  was  covered  with  a  thin 
sheet  of  transparent  horn  to  pro- 
tect it  from  dirty  fingers.  Figure  6 
shows  a  common  form  of  this 
early  type  of  primer,  the  mastery 
of  which  usually  required  some 
time.  Cowper  thus  describes  this 
little  book: 

Neatly  secured  from  being  soiled  or  torn 
Beneath  a  pane  of  thin  translucent  horn, 
A  book  (to  please  us  at  a  tender  age 
'T  is  called  a  book,  though  but  a  single  page) 
Presents  the  prayer  the  Savior  designed  to 

teach, 
Which  children  use,  and  parsons  —  when 

they  preach. 

Having  learned  to  read,  the  child  next  passed  to  the  Cate- 
chism and  the  Bible;  these  constituted  the  entire  range  of 
reading  in  the  schools. 

The  New  England  Primer.  In  1690  there  appeared  a  won- 
derful little  volume,  known  as  The  New  England  Primer, 
which  at  once  leaped  into  popularity  and  soon  superseded 
the  Hornbook  as  the  beginning  reading  text,  not  only  in  New 
England  but  in  the  schools  of  all  the  colonies  except  those 
under  the  control  of  the  Church  of  England.    For  the  next 


turaiMuiiflaji/ifii'uiniisiJuinii, 


aucoerpj 
iimnopqr?f 

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InnjeDameofGODtO* 

jtett)et,tf}*£otme>$tf 

Stfye^ouetiHto&atnetu  & 

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^«xn*ealotoxB  b«  tbp£amtt 
Jbp  tttno&cm  eomtrttftp  ujt  I  bt 
mt  in  Cttthuit  tf  infettcm 
Mtv  turfy*  tup  ouroatip  b»ab 
|nD  foftitu  b*  our  tctrpafltf,a% 

Sf«t*iWn^6atDcUt!trbsf(aB» 
W&4  tbtm  wtt>  tampon*. 


Fig.  6.  A  Hornbook 


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V  no 


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whipt  at  Sc 

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32  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

century  and  a  quarter  it  was  the  chief  school  and  reading 
book  in  use  among  the  Dissenters  and  Lutherans  in  America. 
Such  spelling  as  was  taught  was  taught  from  it  also.  Being 
religious  in  the  nature  of  its  contents  it  was  used  both  in  the 
school  and  the  church,  the  schoolmasters  drilled  the  children 
in  the  reading  matter  and  the  catechism  in  the  schools,  and 
the  people  recited  the  catechism  yearly  in  the  churches. 
Every  home  possessed  copies  of  it,  and  it  was  for  sale  at 
all  bookstores,  even  in  the  smaller  places,  for  a  century  and 
a  half.  It  was  reprinted  throughout  the  colonies  under 
different  names,  but  the  public  preferred  the  title  New  Eng- 
land Primer  to  any  other.  Its  total  sales  have  been  esti- 
mated to  have  been  at  least  three  million  copies.  It  was  used 
in  the  Boston  dame  schools  as  late  as  1806,  and  in  the  coun- 
try districts  still  later,  but  was  gradually  discarded  for 
newer  types  of  secular  readers.  Compared  with  the  primers 
and  first  readers  of  to-day  it  seems  poor  and  crude,  but 
probably  no  modern  textbook  will  ever  exercise  the  influ- 
ence over  children  and  adults  which  was  exercised  by  this 
little  religious  reader,  3J  by  4|  inches  in  size,  and  but  88 
pages  thick.  It  has  been  said  of  it  that  "it  taught  millions 
to  read,  and  not  one  to  sin."  The  Psalter,  the  Testament, 
and  the  Bible  were  its  natural  continuation,  and  constituted 
the  main  advanced  reading  books  in  the  colonies  before 
about  1750. 

Other  texts.  A  textbook  was  seldom  used  in  teaching 
arithmetic  by  the  colonial  schoolmasters.  The  study  itself 
was  common,  but  not  universal.  It  was  not  until  the  begin- 
ning of  our  national  period  that  arithmetic  was  anywhere 
made  a  required  subject  of  instruction.  The  subject  was 
regarded  as  one  of  much  difficulty,  and  one  in  which  few 
teachers  were  competent  to  give  instruction,  or  few  pupils 
competent  to  understand.  To  possess  a  reputation  as  an 
"arithmeticker"  was  an  important  recommendation  for  a 
teacher,  while  for  a  pupil  to  be  able  to  do  sums  in  arithmetic 
was  a  matter  of  much  pride  to  parents.  Teacher's  contracts 
frequently  required  that  the  teacher  should 


BEGINNINGS  OF  AMERICAN  EDUCATION        S3 

—  do  his  faithful,  honest,  and  true  endeavor  to  teach  the  chil- 
dren or  servants  of  those  who  have  subscribed  the  reading  and 
writing  of  English,  and  also  arithmetick,  if  they  desire  it;  as  much 
as  they  are  capable  to  learn  and  he  capable  to  teach  them  within 
the  compas  of  this  year. 

The  teacher  might  or  might  not  possess  an  arithmetic  of  his 
own,  but  the  instruction  to  pupils  was  dictated  and  copied 
instruction.  Each  pupil  made  his  own  written  book  of  rules 
and  solved  problems,  and  most  pupils  never  saw  a  printed 
arithmetic.  It  was  not  until  about  the  middle  of  the  eigh- 
teenth century  that  printed  arithmetics  came  into  use,  and 
then  only  in  the  larger  towns. 

Writing,  similarly,  was  taught  by  dictation  and  practice,  and 
the  art  of  the  "scrivener,"  as  the  writing  master  was  called, 
was  very  elaborate  and  involved  much  drill  and  many  flour- 
ishes. The  difficulty  of  mastering  the  art,  its  lack  of  practi- 
cal value  to  most  children,  the  high  cost  of  paper,  and  the 
necessity  usually  for  special  lessons,  all  alike  tended  to  make 
WTiting  a  much  less  commonly  known  art  than  reading. 

For  the  Latin  grammar  schools  the  great  American  texk 
book,  for  more  than  a  century,  was  Cheever*  s  Accidence, 
prepared  by  perhaps  the  most  famous  of  all  early  American 
schoolmasters,  Ezekiel  Cheever.  The  book  was  prepared 
while  Mr.  Cheever  was  in  charge  of  the  Latin  grammar 
school  at  New  Haven  (1641-1650),  and  was  published  prior 
to  1650.  For  more  than  a  hundred  years  this  was  the  text- 
book of  the  Latin  grammar  schools  of  all  New  England,  and 
it  was  also  extensively  used  as  a  text  wherever  Latin  was 
taught  in  the  other  American  colonies. 

The  teachers.  The  best  teachers  during  the  earlier  co- 
lonial period  were  the  teachers  in  the  Latin  grammar  schools 
of  New  England.  They  were  usually  well-educated  men, 
strict  in  the  faith,  and  capable  as  teachers.  A  few  attained 
1  fame  which  has  made  them  remembered  to  the  present 
time.  Among  these  Ezekiel  Cheever  (1614-1708),  men- 
tioned above,  a  graduate  of  Cambridge,  in  England,  who 
came  to  America  at  the  age  of  twenty-three,  and  who  served 


84  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

for  seventy  years  as  a  teacher  in  New  England  and  for 
thirty-eight  years  as  head  of  the  Boston  Latin  School;  and 
Elijah  Corlett  (1611-1687),  for  forty-three  years  head  of  the 
Cambridge  Latin  School,  were  the  most  famous.  Of  these, 
Cotton  Mather  wrote,  at  the  time  of  the  death  of  Cheever: 

Tis  CORLETS  pains,  &  CHEEVER'S,  we  must  own. 
That  thou,  New  England,  art  not  Scylhia  grown. 

Many  of  the  early  teachers  in  the  reading  schools  were 
men  of  some  learning,  but  the  meager  pay  in  time  turned 
the  instruction  in  these  schools  over  to  college  students  and 
local  or  itinerant  schoolmasters  in  winter,  and  to  women  in 
summer,  and  eventually  the  dame  school  supplanted  the 
town  elementary  school.  Girls  were  usually  admitted  to 
the  summer,  but  not  to  the  winter  school,  and  they  were 
taught  only  reading,  writing,  and  religion.  The  teachers 
in  the  middle-colonies  parochial  schools  were  usually  good, 
carefully  selected  by  their  churches,  sound  in  the  faith,  and 
rendered  service  which  for  the  time  was  reasonably  satis- 
factory. This  was  especially  true  of  the  teachers  in  the 
schools  of  the  Anglican  Church  "Society  for  the  Propaga- 
tion of  the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts,"  which  operated  in  many 
towns  and  cities  in  the  English  colonies  between  1702  and 
1782.  The  poorest  teachers  were  to  be  found  in  the  private 
schools,  many  of  them  being  itinerant  teachers.  Others 
were  of  the  so-called  "indentured  white  servants"  class  — 
poor  men  or  criminals  sent  over  from  England  and  sold  for  a 
certain  number  of  years  of  labor,  usually  four  or  five,  to  pay 
for  their  passage.  These  were  let  out  by  their  purchasers 
to  conduct  a  school,  the  proceeds  of  which  went  to  their 
owners.     The  advertisement  shows  such  a  teacher  for  sale. 


To  Be  DISPOSED  of, 
A  likely  Servant  Mans  Time  for  4  Years 

JTjL  who  is  very  well  Qualified  for  a  Clerk  or  to  teach 
aScbool,  he  Reads,  Writes,  underftands  Arithmetfck  and, 
Accompts  very  well,  Enquire  of  the  Printer  hereof. 


BEGINNINGS  OF  AMERICAN  EDUCATION         35 

Licensing  of  teachers.  The  licensing  of  teachers  was 
carefully  looked  after  in  so  far  as  religious  faith  was  con- 
cerned, though  private  teachers  usually  were  unlicensed. 
Where  this  was  done  locally,  as  in  New  England,  the  minister 
usually  examined  the  candidate  thoroughly  to  see  that  he 
was  "sound  in  the  faith.,,  Little  else  mattered.  In  the 
parochial  schools  to  the  southward,  where  there  was  a  con- 
nection with  a  home  church  in  continental  Europe,  the  license 
to  teach  not  infrequently  came,  in  theory  at  least,  from  a 
church  synod  or  bishop  in  the  home  land.  A  modicum  of 
learning  was  of  course  assumed  on  the  part  of  the  applicant, 
but  this  was  not  especially  inquired  into.  The  great  consid- 
eration was  that  the  teacher  should  adhere  closely  to  the 
tenets  of  the  particular  church,  and  should  abstain  from 
attendance  upon  the  services  of  any  other  church.  For  ex- 
ample, the  Bishop  of  London  issued  the  license  to  teach  in 
schools  under  the  direction  of  the  English  Church  in  the  col- 
onies. To  hold  such  a  license  the  applicant  must  conform 
to  the  Church  liturgy,  must  have  received  the  Sacrament 
in  some  Anglican  church  within  a  year,  and  for  attending 
any  other  form  of  worship  was  usually  subject  to  imprison- 
ment and  disbarment  from  teaching.  Such  conditions  illus- 
trate the  intense  religious  bitterness  of  the  times,  and  the 
dominance  of  the  religious  motive  in  all  instruction.  Had 
there  not  been  churches  to  recruit  for,  and  a  feeling  of  the 
deep  importance  of  church  membership,  there  would  have 
been  little  need  for  schools.  It  was  the  one  compelling 
motive  of  the  time  for  maintaining  them. 

Character  of  the  early  school  instruction.  Viewed  from 
any  modern  standpoint  the  colonial  schools  attained  to  but 
a  low  degree  of  efficiency.  The  dominance  of  such  an  intense 
religious  motive  in  itself  precluded  any  liberal  attitude  in  the 
instruction.  In  addition,  the  school  hours  were  long,  and 
most  of  the  time  was  wasted  as  the  result  of  an  almost  com- 
plete lack  of  any  teaching  equipment,  books,  and  supplies, 
and  of  poor  methods  of  teaching.  The  schoolhouses  were 
of  logs  with  a  rough  puncheon  floor,  and  with  seats  and  a 


EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 


rough    board    desk    running   around    the  walls.      Paper, 

greased  with  lard,  often 
took  the  place  of  glass  in 
the  windows.  There  were 
no  blackboards  or  maps. 
Slates  were  not  used  until 
about  1820,  and  pencils 
and  steel  pens  did  not 
come  into  use  until  much  • 
later.  Paper  was  expen- 
sive and  not  particularly 
good  in  quality,  and  hence 
used  but  sparingly.  Some- 
times birch  bark  was  used 
for  ciphering,  and  often 
the  figures  were  traced 
Fig.  8.  A  Typical  Early  Schoolroom  in  sand.  The 
Interior  pens  were  goose 

quills,  and  one 
of  the  prerequisites  for  a  schoolmaster  was  the 
ability  to  make  and  repair  quill  pens.  The  ink 
was  home-made,  and  often  poor. 

The   discipline  in  all  classes   of  schools  was 
severe.    Even  boys  in  college  were  still  whipped, 
while  in  the  lower  schools  little  else  than  hard 
punishments  were  the  rule.   Whipping-posts  were 
sometimes  set  up  in  the  schoolroom,  or  in 
the  yard   or   street  outside.     Pictures  of 
schools  of  the  time,  especially  European 
schools,  usually  show  the  schoolmaster  with 
a  bundle  of  switches  near  at  hand.    The 
ability  to  impose  some  sort  of  order  on  a 
poorly  taught  and,  in  consequence,  an  un- 
ruly school,  was  another  of  the  prerequi- 
sites for  a  schoolmaster. 

The  greatest  waste  of  time  came  from    £juse  f*  s«nd«land, 

Y  m  .  Massachusetts.  Now  in 

the  individual  methods  of  instruction  uni-    the  Deerfieid  museum. 


Fig.  9.  A  School 
Whipping-Post 

Drawn  from  a  picture 
of  a  five-foot  whipping- 
post which  once  stood 
in  the  floor  of  a  school- 


BEGINNINGS  OF  AMERICAN  EDUCATION        37 

versally  followed  in  teaching.  Children  came  forward  to  the 
teacher's  desk  and  recited  individually  to  the  master  or 
dame,  and  so  wasteful  was  the  process  that  children  might 
attend  school  for  years  and  get  only  a  mere  start  in  reading 
and  writing.  Hearing  lessons,  assigning  new  tasks,  setting 
copies,  making  quill  pens,  dictating  sums,  and  keeping  order 
completely  absorbed  the  teacher's  time. 

IV.  Change  in  Character  after  about  1750 
The  period  of  establishment.  The  seventeenth  century 
was  essentially  a  period  of  transplanting,  during  which  lit- 
tle or  no  attempt  at  adaptation  or  change  was  made.  The 
customs  of  the  mother  countries  in  manners,  morals,  dress, 
religious  observances,  education,  and  classes  in  society  were 
all  carefully  transplanted.  In  most  of  the  colonies  the 
early  settlements  were  near  the  coast.  This  was  particu- 
larly the  case  in  New  England,  where  the  danger  from  In- 
dian massacres  had  been  greater  than  farther  south.  King 
Philip's  War  (1675-78)  had  cost  the  New  England  colonists 
half  a  million  dollars  —  a  large  sum  for  that  time  —  and 
had  almost  exhausted  the  people.  Twelve  out  of  the  ninety 
existing  towns  had  been  destroyed,  and  forty  others  had  wit- 
nessed fire  and  massacre.  A  number  of  towns  were  so  poor 
they  could  not  pay  their  colony  taxes,  and  the  maintenance 
of  schools,  either  by  tuition  or  tax,  became  exceedingly 
difficult. 

The  general  result,  though,  of  the  war  was  such  a  punish- 
ment of  the  Indians  that  the  colonists  felt  free  thereafter 
to  form  settlements  inland,  and  a  marked  expansion  of  New 
England  took  place.  The  same  was  true  of  the  central 
colonies,  new  settlements  now  being  founded  farther  and 
farther  inland.  These  new  towns  in  the  wilderness,  owing 
their  foundation  to  an  entirely  different  cause  than  the 
original  towns,  and  being  founded  by  younger  people  who 
had  never  known  European  religious  zeal  or  oppression,  at 
once  gave  evidence  of  less  interest  in  religion  and  learning 
than  had  been  the  case  with  the  towns  nearer  the  coast. 


38  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

Even  in  these  earlier  coast  towns,  the  second  and  third 
generation  then  in  control  began  to  turn  from  religion  and 
agriculture  to  shipping  and  commerce,  and  with  the  rise 
of  trade  new  interests  began  slowly  to  displace  the  dominant 
religious  concern  of  the  early  colonists. 

Waning  of  the  old  religious  interest.  As  early  as  1647 
Rhode  Island  had  enacted  the  first  law  providing  for  free- 
dom of  religious  worship  ever  enacted  by  an  English- 
speaking  people,  and  two  years  later  Maryland  enacted  a 
similar  law.  Though  the  Maryland  law  was  later  over- 
thrown, and  a  rigid  Church-of-England  rule  established 
there,  these  laws  were  indicative  of  the  new  spirit  arising  in 
the  New  World.  The  witchcraft  persecutions  at  Salem  and 
elsewhere  in  New  England  did  much  to  weaken  the  hold 
of  the  ministry  on  the  people  there.  By  the  beginning  of 
the  eighteenth  century  a  change  in  attitude  toward  the 
old  problem  of  personal  salvation  and  church  attendance 
became  evident.  New  settlements  amid  frontier  conditions, 
where  hard  work  rather  than  long  sermons  and  religious  dis- 
putations were  the  need;  the  gradual  rise  of  a  civil  as  op- 
posed to  a  religious  form  of  town  government;  the  increase 
of  new  interests  in  trade  and  shipping,  and  inter-colony  com- 
merce; the  beginnings  of  the  breakdown  of  the  old  aristo- 
cratic traditions  and  customs,  originally  transplanted  from 
Europe;  the  rising  individualism  in  both  Europe  and  Amer- 
ica; —  these  all  helped  to  weaken  the  hold  on  the  people  of 
the  old  religious  doctrines.  The  importation  of  many  "in- 
dentured white  servants,' '  who  for  a  time  were  virtually 
slaves,  and  the  deportation  from  England  of  many  paupers 
and  criminals  from  the  English  jails,  most  of  whom  went 
to  the  central  and  southern  colonies,  likewise  tended  not 
only  to  reduce  the  literacy  and  religious  zeal  of  the  colonies, 
but  also  to  develop  a  class  of  "poor  whites"  who  later 
deeply  influenced  educational  progress  in  the  States  in  which 
they  settled. 

By  1750  the  change  in  religious  thinking  had  become  quite 
marked.    Especially  was  the  change  evidenced  in  the  dying 


Pio.  10.  How  the  Early  New  England  Towns  were  located 

L.  K.  Mnthewi'i  The  Expansion  of  New  England,  p.  55. 


40  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

out  of  the  old  religious  fervor  and  intolerance,  and  the  break- 
ing up  of  the  old  religious  solidarity.  While  most  of  the  col- 
onies continued  to  maintain  an  "established  church,"  other 
sects  had  to  be  admitted  to  the  colony  and  given  freedom 
of  worship,  and,  once  admitted,  they  were  found  not  to  be  so 
bad  after  all.  The  Puritan  monopoly  of  New  England  was 
broken,  as  was  also  that  of  the  Anglican  church  in  the  cen- 
tral colonies.  The  day  of  the  monopoly  of  any  sect  in  a 
colony  was  over.  New  secular  interests  began  to  take  the 
place  of  religion  as  the  chief  topic  of  thought  and  conversa- 
tion. Secular  books  began  to  dispute  the  earlier  monopoly  of 
the  Bible,  and  a  few  colonial  newspapers  (seven  by  1750)  were 
founded  and  began  to  circulate.  All  these  changes  materi- 
ally affected  both  the  support  and  the  character  of  the  edu- 
cation provided  in  the  colonies. 

Changing  character  of  the  schools.  These  changes  man- 
ifested themselves  in  many  ways  in  the  matter  of  educa- 
tion. The  maintenance  of  the  Latin  grammar  schools, 
required  by  the  Law  of  1647,  had  been  found  to  be  increas- 
ingly difficult  of  enforcement,  not  only  in  Massachusetts,  but 
in  all  the  other  New  England  colonies  which  had  followed 
the  Massachusetts  example.  With  the  changing  attitude  of 
the  people,  which  had  become  clearly  manifest  by  1750,  the 
demand  for  relief  from  the  maintenance  of  this  school  in 
favor  of  a  more  practical  and  less  aristocratic  type  of  higher 
school,  if  higher  school  at  all  were  needed,  became  marked, 
and  by  the  close  of  the  period  the  more  American  Academy, 
with  its  more  practical  studies,  had  begun  to  supersede  the 
old  Latin  grammar  school. 

The  elementary  schools  experienced  something  of  the  same 
difficulties.  Some  of  the  parochial  schools  died  out,  and 
others  declined  in  character  and  importance.  In  Church  of 
England  colonies  all  elementary  education  was  now  left 
to  private  initiative  and  philanthropic  or  religious  effort. 
In  the  southern  colonies  the  classes  in  society  made  common 
tax-supported  schools  impossible.  In  New  England  the 
eighteenth  century  was  a  continual  struggle  on  the  one  hand 


BEGINNINGS  OF  AMERICAN  EDUCATION         41 

to  prevent  the  town  school  from  dying  out,  and  on  the  other 
to  establish  in  its  place  a  series  of  scattered  and  inferior  dis- 
trict schools,  while  tuition  fees  and  taxation  for  support  be- 
came harder  and  harder  to  obtain.  Among  other  changes  of 
importance  the  reading  school  and  the  writing  school  now 
became  definitely  united  in  all  smaller  places  and  in  the 
rural  districts  to  form  the  American  elementary  school  of 
the  3-Rs,  while  the  dame  school  was  definitely  adopted  as 
the  beginners'  school.  Both  these  changes  were  measures 
of  economy,  as  well  as  distinctively  American  adaptations. 

New  textbooks,  containing  less  of  the  gloomily  religious 
than  the  New  England  Primer,  and  secular  rather  than 
religious  matter,  appeared  and  began  to  be  used  in  the 
schools.  Dilworth's  A  New  Guide  to  the  English  Tongue, 
first  published  in  England  in  1740,  began  to  be  used  in  the 
American  colonies  by  1750.  This  contained  words  for 
spelling  and  a  number  of  fables,  and  was  the  first  of  a  line 
of  some  half-dozen  so-called  spelling  books  which  finally 
culminated  in  the  first  distinctively  American  textbook  — 
Noah  Webster's  blue-backed  Spelling  Book,  first  published 
at  Hartford,  in  1783. 

Disintegration  of  the  New  England  town.  One  of  the 
most  fundamental  changes  which  now  took  place  among 
New  England  people,  and  one  which  vitally  modified  future 
educational  administration  in  almost  all  our  American 
States,  was  the  breakdown  of  the  unity  of  the  old  New  Eng- 
land town  and  the  rise  of  the  school  district  as  the  unit  for 
school  maintenance  in  its  stead.    It  came  about  in  this  way. 

Originally  each  New  England  settlement  was  a  unit,  and 
the  irregular  area  included  —  twenty  to  forty  square  miles,  a 
little  smaller  than  a  western  township — was  called  a  town. 
At  the  center,  and  usually  facing  on  the  town  common,  were 
the  Mee ting-House  and  the  town  school,  and  later  the  town 
hall.  All  citizens  were  required  by  law  to  live  within  one 
half-mile  of  the  Meeting-House,  to  attend  the  town  meet- 
ings, and  to  send  their  children  to  the  town  school.  In  the 
town  meeting,  at  first  held  in  the  churches,  all  matters  re- 


42 


EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 


lating  to  the  interests  of  the  town  were  discussed,  taxes 

were  levied,  and  town 
by-laws  were  enacted. 
In  time  these  towns, 
originally  founded  as  re- 
ligious republics,  became 
centers  for  the  discussion 
of  all  forms  of  public 
questions,  and  schools 
for  training  the  people 
in  the  principles  of  gov- 
ernment and  parliamen- 
tary procedure.  In  them 
the  people  learned  how 
to  safeguard  their  own 
interests. 

By  the  close  of  the 
seventeenth  century,  as 
has  been  stated,  many 
of  the  forces  which  at 
first  required  a  compact 
form  of  settlement  had 
begun  to  lose  their  hold. 
New  settlements  arose 
within  the  towns,  miles 
away  from  the  meeting- 
and  schoolhouses.  To 
attend  church  or  town 
meeting  in  winter  was 
not  always  easy,  and  for 
children  to  attend  the 
town  school  was  impos- 
sible. The  old  laws  as 
to  place  of  residence  ac- 
cordingly had  to  be  re- 

Fig.  11.  Showing  the  Evolution  of  the  pealed  or  ignored,  and 
District  System  in  Massachusetts       ag  ft  resu]t  church  en- 


17*0  -  Tiw*  AWieLei  i*te  Stk»o\Jwt«ajr, 


BEGINNINGS  OF  AMERICAN  EDUCATION        43 

thusiasm,  town  as  opposed  to  individual  interests,  and  zeal 
for  education  alike  declined.  New  towns  also  arose  farther 
inland,  which  soon  broke  up  into  divisions  or  districts.  By 
1725  the  population  of  most  of  the  towns  had  been  scat- 
tered over  much  of  the  town's  area,  and  small  settlements, 
cut  off  from  that  of  the  central  town  by  hills,  streams,  forest, 
or  mere  distance,  had  been  formed.  Due  to  the  difficulties 
of  communication,  these  little  settlements  tended  to  become 
isolated  and  independent. 

The  rise  of  the  district  system.  As  the  tendency  to  sub- 
divide the  town  became  marked,  these  subdivisions  de- 
manded and  obtained  local  rights.  The  first  demand  was 
for  a  minister  of  their  own,  or  at  least  for  separate  services. 
As  a  result  parishes  were  created  within  the  town,  and  each 
parish,  with  its  parish  officers,  became  a  new  center  for  the 
rise  of  democracy  and  the  assertion  of  parish  rights.  The 
town  was  next  divided  into  road  districts  for  the  repair  and 
maintenance  of  roads,  and  then  into  districts  for  recruiting 
the  militia,  and  for  assessing  and  collecting  taxes.  All  these 
decentralizing  tendencies  contributed  toward  the  growth  of 
a  district  consciousness  and  the  breakdown  of  town  govern- 
ment. The  establishment  of  dame  schools  in  the  district 
parishes  in  the  summer,  which  had  become  an  established 
institution  in  New  England  by  1700,  and  the  presence  of 
private  tuition-schools  taught  by  a  master  in  the  winter, 
naturally  provided  more  convenient  schooling  than  the  dis- 
tant town  school  afforded.  This  latter,  too,  had  usually 
been  supported  in  part  at  least  by  a  tuition  fee  or  a  tax  (rate 
bill)  on  the  parents  of  children  attending.  The  result  was 
a  serious  crippling  of  the  central  town  school,  which  the  laws 
required  must  be  maintained.  The  towns  finally  found  it 
necessary  to  meet  the  competition  by  making  the  town 
til  entirely  free,  but  to  do  this  the  general  taxation  of 
all  property  had  to  be  resorted  to. 

This  was  the  opportunity  of  the  parishes,  and  the  price 
they  demanded  for  consent  to  a  general  town  tax  for  schools 
was  the  division  of  the  central  town  school.     Either  the 


44  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

school  must  be  moved  about,  and  taught  proportionately 
in  each  parish,  or  separate  schools  must  be  established  and 
maintained  in  each.  The  result,  at  first,  was  the  moving 
town  school,  which  became  established  in  New  England  by 
about  1725,  the  school  being  held  in  each  parish  and  at  the 
center  of  the  town  a  number  of  weeks  each  year  propor- 
tional to  the  amount  of  taxes  for  education  paid  by  each. 
The  next  step  was  to  give  back  to  each  parish,  or  school  dis- 
trict as  it  now  came  to  be  called,  the  money  it  had  paid 
and  let  it  maintain  its  own  school.  This  came  about  during 
the  latter  part  of  the  eighteenth  century,  and  the  right  to 
elect  school  trustees,  levy  district  school  taxes,  and  select  a 
teacher  alone  were  needed  to  complete  the  establishment  of 
the  full  district  system.  These  were  legally  granted  in  all 
the  New  England  States  shortly  after  the  close  of  the  Rev- 
olutionary War.  From  New  England  the  district  system 
in  time  spread  over  nearly  all  of  the  United  States. 

Rise  of  the  civil  or  state  school.  As  has  been  stated  ear- 
lier, the  school  everywhere  in  America  arose  as  a  child  of 
the  Church.  In  the  colonies  where  the  parochial-school  con- 
ception of  education  became  the  prevailing  type,  the  school 
remained  under  church  control  until  after  the  founding  of 
our  national  government.  In  New  England,  however,  and 
the  New  England  evolution  in  time  became  the  prevailing 
American  practice,  the  school  passed  through  a  very  inter- 
esting development  during  colonial  times  from  a  church  into 
a  state  school. 

As  we  have  seen,  each  little  New  England  town  was  origi- 
nally established  as  a  religious  republic,  with  the  Church  in 
complete  control.  The  governing  authorities  for  church 
and  civil  affairs  were  much  the  same.  When  acting  as  church 
officers  they  were  known  as  Elders  and  Deacons;  when  act- 
ing as  civil  or  town  officers  they  were  known  as  Selectmen. 
The  State,  as  represented  in  the  colony  legislature  or  the 
town  meeting,  was  clearly  the  servant  of  the  Church,  and 
existed  in  large  part  for  religious  ends.  It  was  the  State 
acting  as  the  servant  of  the  Church  which  enacted  the 


18th     Century 


1  7  th    Century 


V 


o  o 

3tl 


/ 


BEGINNINGS  OF  AMERICAN  EDUCATION         45 

laws  of  1642  and  1647,  requiring  the  towns  to  maintain 
schools  for  religious  purposes.  Now,  so  close  was  the  con- 
nection between  the  religious  town  which  controlled  church 
affairs,  and  the  civil  town  which  looked  after  roads,  fences, 
taxes,  and  defense  —  the  constituency  of  both  being  one  and 
the  same,  and  the  meetings  of  both  being  held  at  first  in  the 
Meeting-House  —  that  when  the  schools  were  established 
the  colony  legislature  placed  them  under  the  civil,  as  in- 
volving taxes  and  being  a  public  service,  rather  than  under 
the  religious  town.  The  interests  of  one  were  the  interests 
of  both,  and,  being  the  same  in  constituency  and  territorial 
boundaries,  there  seemed  no  occasion  for  friction  or  fear. 
From  this  religious  beginning  the  civil  school,  and  the  civil 
school  town  and  township,  with  all  our  elaborate  school 
administrative  machinery,  were  later  evolved. 

The  erection  of  a  town  hall,  separate  from  the  meeting- 
house, was  the  first  step  in  the  process.  School  affairs  were 
now  discussed  at  the  town  hall,  instead  of  in  the  church. 
Town  taxes,  instead  of  church  taxes,  were  voted  for  buildings 
and  maintenance.  The  minister  continued  to  certificate 
the  grammar-school  master  until  the  close  of  the  colonial 
period,  but  the  power  to  certificate  the  elementary-school 
teachers  passed  to  the  town  authorities  early  in  the  eight- 
eenth century.  By  the  close  of  this  century  all  that  the 
minister,  as  the  surviving  representative  of  church  con- 
trol, had  left  to  him  was  the  right  to  accompany  the  town 
authorities  in  the  visitation  of  the  schools.  Thus  gradu- 
ally but  certainly  did  the  earlier  religious  school  pass  out 
from  under  the  control  of  the  Church  and  become  a  state 
school.  When  our  national  government  and  the  different 
state  governments  were  established,  the  States  were  ready 
to  accept,  in  principle  at  least,  the  theory  gradually  worked 
out  in  New  England  that  schools  are  state  institutions  and 
should  be  under  the  control  of  the  State. 

European  traditions  no  longer  satisfy,  The  changes  in 
the  character  and  in  the  administration  of  the  schools  alike 
reflect  the  spirit  of  the  times,  which  was  one  of  rising  in- 


46  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

dividualism  in  both  Europe  and  America.  By  1750  it  is 
clearly  evident  that  European  traditions  and  ways  and  man- 
ners and  social  customs  and  types  of  schools  were  no  longer 
completely  satisfactory.  There  is  clearly  manifest  a  desire 
to  modify  all  these  various  forces  so  as  to  adapt  them  better 
to  purely  American  needs.  There  is  also  a  tendency, 
strongly  marked  in  the  South,  to  discard  schools  for  all  but 
a  few  as  being  unnecessary  under  new-world  conditions. 
The  growing  exasperation  with  the  mother  country  for  her 
foolish  colonial  policy  tended  to  emphasize  this  feeling  of 
independence,  while  Braddock's  defeat,  after  his  insulting 
boastfulness,  had  a  great  effect  in  giving  the  people  of  all  the 
colonies  a  new  confidence  in  their  ability  to  care  for  them- 
selves. 

The  evolution  of  the  public  or  state  school  in  New  Eng- 
land from  the  original  religious  school;  the  formation  gener- 
ally of  the  American  common  school;  the  rise  of  the  district 
system;  the  introduction  of  new  types  of  textbooks;  the  de- 
cline of  the  Latin  grammar  schools;  the  rise  of  the  essen- 
tially American  Academy;  the  establishment  of  two  new 
colleges  (Pennsylvania,  1749;  Kings,  1754),  which  from  the 
first  placed  themselves  in  sympathy  with  the  more  practical 
studies;  and  the  abandonment  by  Yale  in  1767  and  Harvard 
in  1773  of  the  practice  of  listing  the  students  in  the  Catalogue 
according  to  the  rank  and  social  standing  of  their  parents; 
—  all  these  were  clear  indications  that  the  end  of  the  colonial 
period  marked  the  abandonment  of  the  transplanting  of 
English  educational  ideas  and  schools  and  types  of  instruc- 
tion. Instead,  the  beginnings  of  the  evolution  of  distinc- 
tively American  types  of  schools,  better  adapted  to  Ameri- 
can needs,  are  clearly  evident.  This  evolution  was  checked 
by  the  war  which  closed  the  period  of  colonial  depend- 
ence, and  something  like  half  a  century  of  our  national  life 
passed  before  we  note  again  the  rise  of  a  distinctively 
American  educational  consciousness  and  the  development 
of  distinctively  American  schools  once  more  begins. 


BEGINNINGS  OF  AMERICAN  EDUCATION         47 

QUESTIONS  FOR  DISCUSSION 

1.  State  the  change  in  the  importance  of  education  which  resulted  from 
the  Protestant  Reformation  in  Europe. 

2.  Explain  what  is  meant  by  "the  Puritan  Church  appealed  to  what  was 
then  its  servant,  the  State,"  etc. 

3.  State  the  important  contributions  of  Calvinism  to  our  new-world  life. 

4.  Explain  the  significance  of  the  prelude  to  the  Massachusetts  Law  of 
1647,  which  begins  by  stating  that  it  had  been  "one  chief  point  of 
that  old  deluder,  Satan,"  etc. 

5.  Do  the  fundamental  principles  stated  by  Mr.  Martin  as  underlying 
the  Massachusetts  Laws  of  1642  and  1647  still  hold  true? 

6.  Explain  why  a  parochial-school  system  in  colonial  times  was  certain 
to  be  less  effective  than  the  Massachusetts  state  system. 

7.  Explain  how  climate  and  crop  differences  between  Massachusetts 
and  Virginia  in  themselves  would  have  tended  to  develop  different 
governmental  and  educational  attitudes,  even  had  there  been  no 
difference  in  religion. 

8.  What  explanation  can  you  give  for  the  great  indifference  to  education 
of  the  English  Church  during  the  entire  colonial  period? 

9.  Explain  the  origin  of  the  American  school  of  the  3-Rs. 

10.  Explain  the  establishment  in  the  New  England  wilderness  of  the 
Latin  grammar  school  as  the  important  school  of  the  early  colonial 
period. 

11.  Were  the  conditions  demanded  for  a  teacher's  license  perfectly  legiti- 
mate for  the  time?  Compare  these  conditions  with  conditions 
demanded  of  teachers  for  licensing  to-day. 

12.  What  explanation  can  you  give  for  the  general  prevalence  of  the  indi- 
vidual instead  of  the  class  method  of  instruction  during  colonial  times? 

13.  Explain  how  the  seventeenth  century  was  essentially  a  period  of 
transplanting,  or,  as  Eggleston  states  it,  a  period  of  the  "transit  of 
civilization." 

14.  Why  did  the  rising  individualism  of  later  colonial  times  tend  to 
weaken  the  religious  zeal  of  earlier  times? 

15.  Explain  the  stages  of  development  of  the  Massachusetts  district- 
school  system. 

16.  Explain  the  development  of  the  civil  state  school  out  of  the  religious 
town  school. 

17.  Show  how  the  moving  school  was  merely  a  first  step  in  the  creation 
of  district  schools. 

18.  Why  should  the  South  have  tended  to  discard  schools  altogether, 
except  for  the  few? 


48  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

TOPICS  FOR  INVESTIGATION  AND  REPORT 

Intended  for  brief  reading  and  quite  brief  written  or  class  report. 

1.  Indebtedness  to  England  for  our  early  educational  traditions  and 
practices.     (Brown,  E.  E.;  Eggleston.) 

2.  The  early  New  England  Latin  grammar  schools,  and  their  work. 
(Brown,  E.  E.;  Barnard;  Small.) 

3.  The  work  of  Ezekiel  Cheever  and  Elijah  Corlett  as  types  of  grammar- 
school  masters.     (Barnard;  Brown,  E.  E.) 

4.  Early  parochial  schools  in  the  central  colonies.     (Murray;  Wicker- 
sham  —  See  Bibl.  to  Chap.  IV.) 

5.  Dutch  schools  in  colonial  New  Amsterdam.    (Fitzpatrick.) 

6.  The  schools  of  the  "Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel." 
(Kemp;  Monroe;  Palmer  [Chap.  III.].) 

7.  The  apprenticeship  system  in   the  colonies.     (Heatwole;  Knight; 
Seybolt.) 

8.  The  moving  school  in  Massachusetts.     (Updegraff.) 

9.  The  New  England  Primer.     (Ford;  Johnson). 

10.  The  teaching  of  arithmetic  in  colonial  times.     (Monroe,  W.  S.) 

11.  The  religious  aim  in  early  New  England  education.     (Brown,  E.  E. 
&  S.  W.) 

SELECTED  REFERENCES 

The  most  important  references  are  indicated  by  a  *. 

Barnard,  Henry.    "Ezekiel  Cheever";  in  Barnard's  American  Journal  of 
Education,  vol.  1,  pp.  297-314. 

An  interesting  sketch  of  the  life  and  work  of  this  famous  New  England  schoolmaster, 
with  notes  on  the  early  free  grammar  school  of  New  England. 

Boone,  R.  G.     Education  in  the  United  States.     402  pp.     D.  Appleton  & 
Co.,  New  York,  1889. 

Chapters  I  and  II  form  good  supplemental  reading  for  this  chapter. 
*Brown,  Elmer  E.     The  Making  of  our  Middle  Schools.     547  pp.     Long- 
mans, Green  &  Co.,  New  York,  1903. 

A  standard  history  of  the  rise  of  the  Latin  grammar  school  and  the  later  high  schools. 
The  first  seven  chapters  bear  particularly  on  the  subject-matter  of  this  chapter. 

Brown,  S.  W.      The  Secularization  of  American  Education.      160  pp. 
Teachers  College  Contributions  to  Education,  No.  49,  New  York,  1912. 
Chapters  I  and  II  contain  many  extracts  from  old  records  relating  to  the  religious  aim 
of  education,  and  to  the  instruction  of  orphans  and  dependents. 

Dexter,  E.  G.     A  History  of  Education  in  the  United  States.     656  pp. 
The  Macmillan  Co.,  New  York,  1904. 

A  collection  of  facts  rather  than  an  interpretation.    The  first  five  chapters  deal  with 
the  period  covered  by  this  chapter. 


BEGINNINGS  OF  AMERICAN  EDUCATION         49 

*Eggleston,  Edw.     The  Transit  of  Civilization.     344  pp.     D.  Appleton  & 

Co.,  New  York,  1901. 

A  very  interesting  description  of  the  transfer  of  English  civilization  to  America  in  the 

seventeenth  century.     Chapter  V,  on  the  transfer  of  educational  traditions,  is  specially 

important. 
*Fitzpatrick,  E.  A.   The  Educational  Views  and  Influence  ofDe  Witt  Clinton. 

156  pp.     Teachers  College  Contributions  to  Education,  No.  44,     New 

York,  1911. 

Part  I  is  a  very  interesting  study  of  educational  conditions  in  New  York  State  during 

the  later  colonial  period. 

*Ford,  Paul  L.  The  New  England  Primer.  Dodd,  Mead  &  Co.,  New 
York,  1899. 

A  reprint,  with  an  historical  introduction,  of  the  earliest  known  edition  of  this  famous 
book. 

Heatwole,  C.J.  A  History  of  Education  in  Virginia.  382  pp.  The  Mac- 
millan  Co.,  New  York,  1916. 

The  first  four  chapters  give  a  good  general  account  of  educational  efforts  in  Virginia, 
and  the  English  attitude  expressed  there. 

Jackson,  G.  L.  The  Development  of  School  Support  in  Colonial  Massachu- 
setts. 95  pp.  Teachers  College  Contributions  to  Education,  No.  25, 
New  York,  1909. 

A  study  of  the  different  methods  employed  in  supporting  schools,  and  the  evolution 
of  the  town-supported  school. 

♦Johnson,  Clifton.  Old-Time  Schools  and  School  Books.  381  pp.  234  Els. 
The  Macmillan  Co.,  New  York,  1904. 

A  very  interesting  collection  of  pictures  and  bits  of  historical  information,  woven 
together  into  fourteen  chapters  descriptive  of  old  schools  and  school  books. 

Kemp,  W.  W.  The  Support  of  Schools  in  Colonial  New  York  by  the  Society 
for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts.  279  pp .  Teachers  Col- 
lege Contributions  to  Education,  No.  56,  New  York,  1913. 

A  very  full  and  detailed  study  of  the  work  of  this  Society  in  the  different  parts  of  the 
colony. 

Kilpatrick,  Wm.  H.  The  Dutch  Schools  of  New  Netherlands  and  Colonial 
New  York.  239  pp.  United  States  Bureau  of  Education,  Bulletin 
No.  12,  Washington,  D.C.,  1912. 

An  excellent  detailed  study  of  Dutch  education,  with  good  descriptions  of  the  schools 
and  school  work. 

*Knight,  Edgar  W.  Public  School  Education  in  North  Carolina.  384  pp. 
Houghton  Mifflin  Co.,  Boston,  1916. 

Chapter  II  contains  a  very  good  brief  account  of  the  apprentice  system  in  the  State 
during  the  colonial  period. 

*Martin,  Geo.  H.  The  Evolution  of  the  Massachusetts  Public  School  System. 
284  pp.    D.  Appleton  &  Co.,  New  York,  1894. 

A  standard  interpretative  history  of  the  rise  of  the  Massachusetts  schools.  Chapters 
I  and  II  deal  with  the  early  period  represented  by  this  chapter,  and  Chapter  III  with 
the  decline  in  school  spirit  and  the  rise  of  the  district  system  and  the  Academy. 


50  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

*Monroe,  Paul.  Cyclopedia  of  Education.  The  Macmillan  Co.,  New  York, 
1911-13. 

The  following  articles  are  specially  important. 

1.  "Colonial  Period  in  American  Education,"  vol.  n,  pp.  115-122. 

Very  good  on  the  period  covered  by  this  chapter. 

2.  "Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts,"  vol.  v,  pp.  254-56. 

Good  on  the  charity-school  work  of  the  Church  of  England  in  the  colonies. 

3.  The  historical  portion  of  the  different  articles  on  the  school  systems  of    the 

American  States,  as  Connecticut,  Massachusetts,  New  York,  Pennsylvania, 
Virginia,  etc. 

*Monroe,  W.  S.     Development  of  Arithmetic  as  a  School  Subject.     170  pp. 
United  States  Bureau  of  Education,   Bulletin  No.  10,  Washington, 
1917. 
Contains  an  interesting  introduction  on  the  teaching  of  arithmetic  in  colonial  times. 

Murray,  David.  History  of  Education  in  New  Jersey.  344  pp.  United 
States  Bureau  of  Education,  Circular  of  Information  No.  1,  Washington, 
1899. 

Chapter  VIII  very  good  on  colonial  schools  in  New  Jersey. 

Seybolt,  It.  F.  Apprenticeship  and  Apprenticeship  Education  in  Colonial 
New  York  and  New  England.  121  pp.  Teachers  College  Contributions 
to  Education,  No.  85,  New  York,  1917. 

An  interesting  study  of  old  records  relating  to  apprenticeship  education. 

Small,  W.  H.  "The  New  England  Grammar  School,"  1635-1700;  in  School 
Review,  vol.  x,  pp.  513-31.     (Sept.,  1902.) 

A  description  of  the  founding  of  the  early  grammar  schools,  with  interesting  extracts 
from  the  records. 

*Small,  W.  H.  Early  New  England  Schools.  401  pp.  Ginn  &  Co.,  Boston, 
1914. 

A  very  interesting  collection  of  source  extracts,  copied  from  the  early  records,  and 
classified  into  chapters  describing  all  phases  of  early  school  life. 

Suzzallo,  Henry.  The  Rise  of  Local  School  Supervision  in  Massachusetts, 
1635-1827.  154  pp.  Teachers  College  Contributions  to  Education, 
No.  3,  New  York,  1906. 

A  study  of  the  evolution  of  the  School  Committee  and  its  powers  out  of  the  town 
meeting. 

Updegraff,  H.  The  Origin  of  the  Moving  School  in  Massachusetts.  186  pp. 
Teachers  College  Contributions  to  Education,  No.  17,  New  York,  1908. 

A  very  readable  account  of  colonial  education  in  Massachusetts,  and  of  how  the  dis- 
trict school  evolved  out  of  the  town  school. 


CHAPTER  III 

EARLY  NATIONAL  AND  STATE  ATTITUDES 

(1775-1825) 

I.  The  National  Government  and  Education 

Effect  of  the  war  on  education.  The  effect  of  the  War  for 
Independence,  on  all  types  of  schools,  was  disastrous.  The 
growing  troubles  with  the  mother  country  had,  for  more 
than  a  decade  previous  to  the  opening  of  hostilities,  tended 
to  concentrate  attention  on  other  matters  than  schooling. 
Political  discussion  and  agitation  had  largely  monopolized 
the  thinking  of  the  time. 

With  the  outbreak  of  the  war  education  everywhere  suf- 
fered seriously.  Most  of  the  rural  and  parochial  schools 
closed,  or  continued  a  more  or  less  intermittent  existence. 
In  some  of  the  cities  and  towns,  the  private  and  charity 
schools  continued  to  operate,  but  in  others  they  were  closed 
entirely.  Usually  the  charity  schools  closed  first,  the  private 
pay  schools  being  able  to  keep  open  longest.  In  New  York 
City,  then  the  second  largest  city  in  the  country,  practically 
all  schools  closed  with  British  occupancy  and  remained  closed 
until  after  the  end  of  the  war.  The  Latin  grammar  schools 
and  academies  often  closed  from  lack  of  pupils,  while  the 
colleges  were  almost  deserted.  Harvard  and  Kings,  in  par- 
ticular, suffered  grievously,  and  sacrificed  much  for  the  cause 
of  liberty.  The  war  engrossed  the  energies  and  the  resources 
of  the  peoples  of  the  different  colonies,  and  schools,  never 
very  securely  placed  in  the  affections  of  the  people,  outside 
of  New  England,  were  allowed  to  fall  into  decay  or  entirely 
disappear.  The  period  of  the  Revolution  and  the  period 
of  reorganization  which  followed,  up  to  the  beginning  of  our 
national  government  (1775-1789),  were  together  a  time  of 
rapid  decline  in  educational  advantages  and  increasing  illit- 


52  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

eracy  among  the  people.  Meager  as  had  been  the  oppor- 
tunities for  schooling  before  1775,  the  opportunities  by  1790, 
except  in  a  few  cities  and  in  the  New  England  districts,  had 
shrunk  almost  to  the  vanishing  point. 

The  close  of  the  war  found  the  country  both  impoverished 
and  exhausted.  All  the  colonies  had  made  heavy  sacrifices, 
many  had  been  overrun  by  hostile  armies,  and  the  debt  of 
the  Union  and  of  the  States  was  so  great  that  many  thought 
it  could  never  be  paid.  The  thirteen  States,  individually 
and  collectively,  with  only  3,380,000  people,  had  incurred  an 
indebtedness  of  $75,000,000  for  the  prosecution  of  the  con- 
flict. Commerce  was  dead,  the  government  of  the  Confeder- 
ation was  impotent,  petty  insurrections  were  common,  the 
States  were  quarreling  continually  with  one  another  over 
all  kinds  of  trivial  matters,  England  still  remained  more  or 
less  hostile,  and  foreign  complications  began  to  appear.  It 
seemed  as  if  the  colonies,  having  united  to  obtain  political 
liberty,  might  now  lose  it  through  quarreling  among  them- 
selves. The  period  from  the  surrender  of  Cornwallis  at 
Yorktown,  in  1781,  to  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution  and 
the  inauguration  of  the  new  government,  in  1789,  was  a  very 
critical  period  in  American  history.  That  during  such  a 
crucial  period,  and  for  some  years  following,  but  little  or  no 
attention  was  anywhere  given  to  the  question  of  education 
was  only  natural. 

The  Constitution  does  not  mention  education.  The  new 
Constitution  for  the  Union,  as  framed  by  the  Constitutional 
Convention,  nowhere  contains  any  mention  of  any  form  of 
education,  and  a  search  of  the  debates  of  the  Convention 
reveals  that  only  once  was  anything  relating  to  education 
brought  before  that  body.  Even  then  it  was  but  a  question, 
answered  by  the  chairman,  and  related  to  the  power  under 
the  new  Constitution  to  establish  a  national  university  at 
the  seat  of  government.  The  chair  ruled  that  the  new 
government  would  have  such  power.  Were  the  Constitu- 
tion to  be  reframed  to-day  there  is  little  doubt  but  that 
education  would  occupy  a  prominent  place  in  it. 


EARLY  NATIONAL  AND  STATE  ATTITUDES   53 

It  is  not  surprising,  however,  when  we  consider  the  time, 
the  men,  and  the  existing  conditions,  that  the  founders  of 
our  Republic  did  not  deem  the  subject  of  public  education 
important  enough  to  warrant  consideration  in  the  Conven- 
tion or  inclusion  in  the  document.  Education  almost  every- 
where was  still  a  private  matter,  and  quite  generally  under  K 
the  control  of  the  Church.  The  New  England  colonies  had  * 
formed  a  notable  exception  to  the  common  practice,  both 
in  this  country  and  abroad. 

Everywhere  in  Catholic  countries  education  as  an  af- 
fair of  the  State  had  not  been  thought  of.  In  France  ele- 
mentary education  had  been  left  to  the  Brothers  of  the 
Christian  Schools,  and  secondary  education  to  the  Jesuits. 
In  1792  the  Brothers  of  the  Christian  Schools,  after  over  a 
century  of  effort,  had  but  121  teaching  communities  in  all 
France,  about  1000  teaching  brothers,  and  approximately 
36,000  pupils  enrolled,  out  of  an  estimated  total  population 
of  26,000,000,  or  about  1  child  in  each  150  of  the  population. 
In  England  education  had,  since  the  days  of  Elizabeth,  been 
considered  as  "no  business  of  the  State,"  and  the  great 
nineteenth-century  agitation  for  state  schools  had  not  as 
yet  been  started.  Even  in  Scotland,  where  schools  were 
opened  generally  in  the  church  parishes  following  the  Ref- 
ormation there,  and  had  continued  to  be  well  maintained, 
they  were  church  and  not  state  schools.  Only  in  the  larger 
German  Protestant  States  had  education  been  declared  a 
state  function  and  subject  to  state  supervision,  but  even  in 
these  States  the  schools  were  still  partially  under  church 
control,  through  the  pastors  of  the  churches  being  appointed 
school  inspectors  and  superintendents  for  the  State. 

Even  the. theory  of  education,  aside  from  that  relating  to 
instruction  in  Latin  secondary  schools  and  colleges,  had  not 
been  thought  out  and  formulated  at  the  time  the  Constitu- 
tion was  framed.  Pestalozzi  had  not  as  yet  done  his  great 
work  in  Switzerland,  or  written  out  his  ideas  as  to  the  nature 
of  elementary  education.  Herbart  was  a  small  child  at  the 
time,  and  Froebel  a  mere  infant  in  arms.    Herbert  Spencer 


54  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

was  not  born  for  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century  after- 
ward. 

Again,  it  must  be  remembered  that  the  Constitutional 
Convention  embraced  in  its  membership  the  foremost  men 
of  colonial  times.  Practically  every  one  of  them  was  a  prod- 
uct of  the  old  aristocratic  and  private  type  of  tuition  train- 
ing, and  probably  few  had  any  particular  sympathy  with 
the  attempts  at  general  education  made  by  the  charity- 
school  type  of  instruction  provided  by  the  churches,  or  with 
the  indifferent  type  of  teachers  found  in  most  of  the  pay 
schools  before  1775.  The  Convention,  too,  it  must  be  re- 
membered, had  weighty  problems  of  State  to  find  a  solution 
for,  serious  differences  between  the  States  to  reconcile,  and 
important  compromises  to  work  out  and  make  effective.  Its 
great  task  was  to  establish  a  stable  government  for  the  new 
States,  and  in  doing  this  all  minor  problems  were  left  to  the 
future  for  solution.  One  of  these  was  education  in  all  its 
forms,  and  accordingly  no  mention  of  education  occurs  in 
the  document. 

By  the  tenth  amendment  to  the  Constitution,  ratified  in 
1791,  which  provided  that  "powers  not  delegated  to  the 
United  States  by  the  Constitution,  nor  prohibited  by  it  to 
the  States,  are  reserved  to  the  States  respectively,  or  to 
the  people,"  the  control  of  schools  and  education  passed, 
as  one  of  the  unmentioned  powers  thus  reserved,  to  the 
people  of  the  different  States  to  handle  in  any  manner  which 
they  saw  fit. 

How  the  Constitution  helped  solve  the  religious  question. 
A  reference  to  Figure  2  (page  14)  will  show  that  this  Na- 
tion was  settled  by  a  large  number  of  different  religious 
sects,  and  this  number  was  further  increased  with  time. 
While  the  colonies  were  predominantly  Protestant,  these 
Protestant  sects  differed  greatly  among  themselves,  and 
between  them  there  was  often  as  bitter  rivalry  as  between 
Protestants  and  Catholics.  This  was  almost  as  true  of  their 
schools  as  of  their  churches.  At  the  beginning  of  the  War  of 
Independence  the  Anglican  (Episcopal)  faith  had  been  de- 


EARLY  NATIONAL  AND  STATE  ATTITUDES  55 

clared  "the  established  religion"  of  the  seven  English  colo- 
nies, and  the  Congregational  was  the  established  religion  in 
three  of  the  New  England  colonies,  while  but  three  colonies 
had  declared  for  religious  freedom  and  refused  to  give  a 
state  preference  to  any  religion.  Catholics  in  particular 
were  under  the  ban,  they  not  being  allowed  to  vote  or 
hold  religious  services  except  in  Pennsylvania  and  Mary- 
land. 

This  religious  problem  had  to  be  met  by  the  Constitu- 
tional Convention,  and  it  handled  it  in  the  only  way  it  could 
have  been  intelligently  handled  in  a  nation  composed  of 
so  many  different  religious  sects  as  was  ours.  The  solution 
worked  out  was  both  revolutionary  and  wholesome.  It 
simply  incorporated  into  the  Constitution  provisions  which 
guaranteed  the  free  exercise  of  their  religious  faith  to  all, 
and  forbade  the  establishment  by  Congress  of  any  state 
religion,  or  the  requirement  of  any  religious  test  or  oath  as 
a  prerequisite  for  holding  any  office  under  the  control  of 
the  Federal  Government.  We  thus  took  a  stand  for  reli- 
gious freedom  at  a  time  when  the  hatreds  of  the  Reforma- 
tion still  burned  fiercely,  and  when  tolerance  in  religious 
matters  was  as  yet  but  little  known. 

Importance  of  the  solution  arrived  at.  The  far-reach- 
ing importance  for  our  future  national  life  of  these  sane  pro- 
visions, and  especially  their  importance  for  the  future  of 
public  education,  can  hardly  be  overestimated.  This  ac- 
tion led  to  the  early  abandonment  of  state  religions,  reli- 
gious tests,  and  public  taxation  for  religion  in  the  old  States, 
and  to  the  prohibition  of  these  in  the  new.  It  also  laid  the 
foundations  upon  which  our  systems  of  free,  common,  pub- 
lic, tax-supported,  non-sectarian  schools  have  since  been 
built  up.  How  we  ever  could  have  erected  a  common  public 
school  system  on  a  religious  basis,  with  the  many  religious 
sects  among  us,  it  is  impossible  to  conceive.  Instead,  we 
should  have  had  a  series  of  feeble,  jealous,  antagonistic,  and 
utterly  inefficient  church  school  systems,  confined  chiefly  to 
elementary  education,  and  each  largely  intent  on  teaching 


56  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

its  peculiar  church  doctrines  and  struggling  for  an  increasing 
share  of  public  funds. 

How  much  we  as  a  people  owe  the  Fathers  of  our  Re- 
public for  this  most  intelligent  provision  few  who  have  not 
thought  carefully  on  the  matter  can  appreciate.  To  it  we 
must  trace  not  only  the  almost  inestimable  blessing  of  re- 
ligious liberty,  which  we  have  for  so  long  enjoyed,  but  also 
the  final  establishment  of  our  common,  free,  public  school 
systems.  It  still  required  a  half  century  of  struggle  with 
the  churches  to  break  their  strangle  hold  on  the  schools  and 
to  create  really  public  schools,  but  the  beginning  of  the 
emancipation  of  education  from  church  domination  goes 
back  to  this  wise  provision  inserted  in  our  National  Con- 
stitution. 

The  new  motive  for  education.  Up  to  near  the  time  of 
the  outbreak  of  the  War  for  Independence  there  had  been 
but  one  real  motive  for  maintaining  schools  —  the  religious. 
To  be  sure,  this  had  clearly  begun  to  wane  by  1750,  but  it 
still  continued  to  be  the  dominant  motive.  The  Declara- 
tion of  Independence  had  asserted  that  "all  men  are  created 
equal,"  that  "they  are  endowed  by  their  Creator  with  cer- 
tain inalienable  rights,"  and  that  "to  secure  these  rights 
Governments  are  instituted  among  men,  deriving  their  just 
powers  from  the  consent  of  the  governed."  The  long  struggle 
for  independence,  with  its  sacrifice  and  hardships,  had  tended 
to  clinch  firmly  this  belief  among  the  colonists,  and  the  new 
Constitution,  with  its  extension  of  the  right  to  vote  for 
national  officers  to  a  largely  increased  number  of  male  citi- 
zens, had  carried  the  theory  expressed  in  the  Declaration 
of  Independence  over  into  practice.  By  1830  most  States 
had  abolished  property  qualifications  for  voting,  and  general 
manhood  suffrage  was  a  concrete  reality.  These  new  politi- 
cal beliefs  tended  to  create  a  new  political  motive  for  educa- 
tion, which  was  destined  to  grow  in  importance  and  in  time 
entirely  supersede  the  old  religious  motive. 

At  first  those  responsible  for  the  government  in  the  States 
and  the  Nation  were  too  busy  with  problems  of  organization, 


EARLY  NATIONAL  AND  STATE  ATTITUDES       57 

finance,  and  order  to  think  much  of  other  things,  but  soon 
after  a  partial  measure  of  these  had  been  established  we 
find  the  leading  statesmen  of  the  time  beginning  to  express 
themselves  as  to  the  need  for  general  education  in  a  govern- 
ment such  as  ours.  Jefferson,  writing  to  James  Madison 
from  Paris,  as  early  as  1787,  had  said: 

Above  all  things,  I  hope  the  education  of  the  common  people 
will  be  attended  to;  convinced  that  on  this  good  sense  we  may  rely 
with  the  most  security  for  the  preservation  of  a  due  degree  of 
liberty. 

Writing  from  Monticello  to  Colonel  Yancey,  after  his  re- 
tirement from  the  presidency,  in  1816,  Jefferson  again  said: 

If  a  nation  expects  to  be  ignorant  and  free  in  a  state  of  civiliza- 
tion it  expects  what  never  was  and  never  will  be.  .  .  .  There  is  no 
safe  deposit  [for  the  functions  of  government],  but  with  the  people 
themselves;  nor  can  they  be  safe  with  them  without  information. 

In  his  Farewell  Address  to  the  American  people,  written 
in  1796,  Washington  said: 

Promote  then,  as  an  object  of  primary  importance,  institutions 
for  the  general  diffusion  of  knowledge.  In  proportion  as  the 
structure  of  a  government  gives  force  to  public  opinion,  it  is  essen- 
tial that  public  opinion  should  be  enlightened. 

John  Jay,  first  Chief  Justice  of  the  United  States,  in  a 
letter  to  his  friend,  Dr.  Benjamin  Rush,  wrote: 

I  consider  knowledge  to  be  the  soul  of  a  Republic,  and  as  the 
weak  and  the  wicked  are  generally  in  alliance,  as  much  care  should 
be  taken  to  diminish  the  number  of  the  former  as  of  the  latter. 
Education  is  the  way  to  do  this,  and  nothing  should  be  left  undone 
to  afford  all  ranks  of  people  the  means  of  obtaining  a  proper 
degree  of  it  at  a  cheap  and  easy  rate. 

James  Madison,  fourth  president  of  the  United  States, 
wrote: 

A  satisfactory  plan  for  primary  education  is  certainly  a  vital 

ratum  in  our  republics. 
A  popular  government  without  popular  information  or  the 
means  of  acquiring  it  is  but  a  prologue  to  a  farce  or  a  tragedy,  or, 


58  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

perhaps,  both.  Knowledge  will  forever  govern  ignorance;  and  a 
people  who  mean  to  be  their  own  governors  must  arm  themselves 
with  the  power  which  knowledge  gives. 

John  Adams,  with  true  New  England  thoroughness,  ex- 
pressed the  new  motive  for  education  still  more  forcibly 
when  he  wrote : 

The  instruction  of  the  people  in  every  kind  of  knowledge  that 
can  be  of  use  to  them  in  the  practice  of  their  moral  duties  as  men, 
citizens,  and  Christians,  and  of  their  political  and  civil  duties  as 
members  of  society  and  freemen,  ought  to  be  the  care  of  the  public, 
and  of  all  who  have  any  share  in  the  conduct  of  its  affairs,  in  a  man- 
ner that  never  yet  has  been  practiced  in  any  age  or  nation.  The 
education  here  intended  is  not  merely  that  of  the  children  of  the  rich 
and  noble,  but  of  every  rank  and  class  of  people,  down  to  the  lowest 
and  the  poorest.  It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  schools  for  the 
education  of  all  should  be  placed  at  convenient  distances  and  main- 
tained at  the  public  expense.  The  revenues  of  the  State  would  be 
applied  infinitely  better,  more  charitably,  wisely,  usefully,  and 
therefore  politically  in  this  way  than  even  in  maintaining  the  poor. 
This  would  be  the  best  way  of  preventing  the  existence  of  the 
poor.  . .  . 

Laws  for  the  liberal  education  of  youth,  especially  of  the  lower 
classes  of  people,  are  so  extremely  wise  and  useful  that,  to  a 
humane  and  generous  mind,  no  expense  for  this  purpose  would  be 
thought  extravagant. 

Having  founded,  as  Lincoln  so  well  said  later  at  Gettys- 
burg, "  on  this  continent  a  new  Nation,  conceived  in  liberty, 
and  dedicated  to  the  proposition  that  all  men  are  created 
equal,"  and  having  built  a  constitutional  form  of  govern- 
ment based  on  that  equality,  it  in  time  became  evident  to 
those  who  thought  at  all  on  the  question  that  that  liberty 
and  political  equality  could  not  be  preserved  without  the 
general  education  of  all.  A  new  motive  for  education  was 
thus  created  and  gradually  formulated,  and  the  nature  of 
school  instruction  came  in  time  to  be  colored  through  and 
through  by  this  new  political  motive.  The  necessary  schools, 
however,  did  not  come  at  once.  On  the  contrary,  the  struggle 
to  establish  that  general  education  required  the  best  efforts 


EARLY  NATIONAL  AND  STATE  ATTITUDES   59 


of  those  interested  in  the  highest  welfare  of  the  Republic 
for  more  than  a  half-century  to  come. 

Beginnings  of  national  aid  for  education.  By  cessions 
made  by  the  original  States,  the  new  National  Government 
was  given  title  to  all  the  lands  lying  between  the  Alleghenies 
and  the  Mississippi  River.  This  it  was  agreed  was  to  con- 
stitute a  great  National  Domain,  from  which  future  States 
might  be  carved.  The  Revolutionary  War  had  hardly 
ceased  before  a  stream  of  soldiers  and  other  immigrants 
began  to  pour  into  this  new  territory.  These  people  de- 
manded to  be  permitted  to  pur- 
chase the  land,  but  before  it 
could  be  sold  it  must  be  sur- 
veyed. Accordingly  Congress 
adopted  a  rectangular  form  of 
land  survey,  under  which  the 
new  territory  was  laid  out  into 
"  Congressional  Townships,' '  six 
miles  square.  Each  township 
was  in  turn  subdivided  into  sec- 
tions one  mile  square,  and  into 
quarter  sections,  and  a  regular 
system  of  numbering  for  each 
was  begun.  In  adopting  the 
Ordinance  for  the  government  of  that  part  of  the  territory 
lying  north  of  the  Ohio,  in  1787,  Congress  provided  that 
"Religion,  morality,  and  knowledge  being  necessary  to  good 
government  and  the  happiness  of  mankind,  schools  and  the 
means  of  education  shall  be  forever  encouraged"  in  the 
States  to  be  formed  from  this  territory.  This  provision, 
and  the  ultimate  settlement  of  the  territory  largely  by  peo- 
ple of  New  England  stock,  settled  the  future  attitude  as  to 
public  education  of  the  States  eventually  erected  therefrom. 

When  the  first  State  came  to  be  admitted,  Ohio,  in  1802, 
the  question  arose  as  to  the  right  of  the  new  State  to  tax 
the  public*  lands  of  the  United  States.  By  way  of  settling 
this  question  amicably  Congress  offered  to  the  new  State 


6 

5 

4 

3 

2 

1 

7 

8 

9 

10 

11 

12 

18 

17 

16 

15 

14 

13 

19 

20 

21 

22 

23 

24 

30 

29 

28 

27 

26 

25 

31 

32 

33 

84 

35 

36 

Fig.  13.  A  Congressional 
Township 

Showing  numbering  and  location  of 
Section  16. 


60  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

that  if  it  would  agree  not  to  tax  the  lands  of  the  United 
States,  and  the  same  when  sold  for  five  years  after  sale  (the 
purchase  price  usually  being  paid  in  five  annual  installments), 
the  United  States  would  in  turn  give  to  the  new  State  the 
sixteenth  section  of  land  in  every  township  for  the  mainte- 
nance of  schools  within  the  township.  The  offer  was  ac- 
cepted, and  was  continued  in  the  case  of  every  new  State 
admitted  thereafter,  except  Texas,  which  owned  its  own 
land  when  admitted,  and  West  Virginia  and  Maine,  which 
were  carved  from  original  States.  With  the  admission  of 
California,  in  1850,  the  grant  was  raised  to  two  sections  in 
each  township,  the  sixteenth  and  the  thirty-sixth,  and  all 
States  since  admitted  have  received  two  sections  in  each 
township  for  schools.  In  the  admission  of  Utah,  Arizona, 
and  New  Mexico,  due  to  the  low  value  of  much  of  the  land, 
four  sections  were  granted  to  each  of  these  States.  To 
these  section  grants  some  other  lands  were  later  added,  — 
saline  lands,  swamp  lands,  and  lands  for  internal  improve- 
ments, and  these  constitute  the  National  Land  Grants  for 
the  endowment  of  public  education,  and  form  the  basis  of 
the  permanent  school  funds  in  all  the  States  west  of  the 
Alleghenies.  In  all,  the  national  government  has  given  to 
the  States  for  common  schools,  in  these  section  and  other 
grants,  a  total  of  approximately  132,000,000  acres  of  public 
lands.  This,  at  the  traditional  government  price  of  $1.25 
an  acre,  would  constitute  a  gift  for  the  endowment  of  com- 
mon school  education  in  the  different  States  of  approxi- 
mately $165,000,000.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  due  to  the  better 
care  taken  of  their  lands  by  the  newer  Western  States,  and 
the  higher  prices  for  more  recent  sales,  these  grants  will 
produce  at  least  half  a  billion  dollars  for  educational  en- 
dowment. 

These  gifts  by  Congress  to  the  new  States  of  national 
lands  for  the  endowment  of  public  education,  though  begun 
in  large  part  as  a  land-selling  proposition,  helped  greatly 
in  the  early  days  to  create  a  sentiment  for  state  schools, 
stimulated  the  older  States  to  set  aside  lands  and  moneys 


EARLY  NATIONAL  AND  STATE  ATTITUDES       61 

to  create  state  school  funds  of  their  own,  and  did  much  to 
enable  the  new  States  to  found  state  school  systems  instead 
of  copying  the  parochial  or  charity  schools  of  the  older 
States  to  the  east. 

II.  What  the  States  were  doing 
Education  having  been  left  to  the  States  as  an  unmen- 
tioned  power  by  the  tenth  amendment  to  the  Federal  Con- 
stitution, we  next  turn  to  the  different  States  to  see  what 
action  was  taken  by  them  in  the  matter  of  education  dur- 
ing the  early  years  of  our  national  history.  In  doing  so 
we  need  to  examine  both  the  state  constitutions  which  they 
framed,  and  their  early  educational  legislation. 

The  early  state  constitutions.  During  the  period  from 
the  adoption  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence  to  the 
close  of  the  eighteenth  century  (1776-1800),  all  the  States, 
except  Rhode  Island  and  Connecticut,  which  considered 
their  colonial  charters  as  satisfactory,  formulated  and 
adopted  new  state  constitutions.  A  number  of  the  States 
also  amended  or  revised  their  constitutions  one  or  more 
times  during  this  period.  Three  new  States  also  were  ad- 
mitted before  1800  —  Vermont,  Kentucky,  and  Tennessee. 
Some  idea  of  the  importance  attached  to  general  education 
by  the  early  States  may  be  gained  by  an  examination  of 
these  early  state  constitutions. 

Of  these,  the  state  constitutions  of  New  Hampshire,  New 
Jersey,  Delaware,  Maryland,  Virginia,  and  South  Carolina, 
all  framed  in  1776;  New  York,  framed  in  1777;  South  Caro- 
lina, revised  in  1778  and  again  in  1790;  Kentucky,  framed 
in  1792,  and  revised  in  1799;  and  Tennessee,  framed  in  1796 
—  all  were  equally  silent  on  the  matter  of  schools  and  edu- 
cation. New  Hampshire  and  Delaware,  in  later  revisions, 
included  a  brief  section  on  the  subject.  Maryland  amended 
its  constitution  four  times,  before  1864,  without  including 
any  mention  of  education.  Of  the  sixteen  States  forming 
the  Union  in  1800,  nine  had  by  that  time  made  no  mention 
of  education  in  any  of  their  constitutions. 


62  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

The  constitutions  of  the  seven  States  which  had  made 
some  mention  fall  into  three  classes.  The  first,  represented 
by  Delaware  and  the  first  Georgia  constitution,  merely 
briefly  direct  the  establishment  of  schools;  the  second,  repre- 
sented by  Massachusetts,  New  Hampshire,  and  Vermont, 
have  good  sections  directing  the  encouragement  of  learning 
and  virtue  and  the  protection  and  encouragement  of  school 
societies;  while  the  third,  represented  by  North  Carolina 
and  the  first  Pennsylvania  and  Vermont  constitutions,  direct 
the  establishment  of  schools  where  tuition  shall  be  cheap.  In 
its  second  constitution  Pennsylvania  went  over  completely 
to  the  maintenance  of  a  pauper-school  system.  A  few  ex- 
tracts will  illustrate  these  early  state  constitutional  provisions. 

Delaware  made  no  mention  of  education  in  its  first  (1776) 
constitution,  but  in  its  second  (1792)  very  briefly  directed 
the  Legislature,  when  it  saw  fit,  to  provide  schools,  as  may 
be  seen  from  the  following  section: 

Art.  VIII,  Sec.  12.  The  Legislature  shall,  as  soon  as  conven- 
iently may  be,  provide  by  law  f or  .  .  .  establishing  schools,  and 
promoting  arts  and  sciences. 

Georgia  had  given  somewhat  similar  directions  as  to  schools 
in  1777,  but  in  1798  withdrew  these  directions  and  substi- 
tuted a  section  relating  only  to  the  promotion  of  arts  and 
sciences  in  seminaries  of  learning,  and  directed  the  Legisla- 
ture to  protect  the  endowment  funds  of  such. 

Massachusetts  and  New  Hampshire,  in  almost  identical 
words,  gave  the  most  complete  directions  of  any  States  as  to 
the  encouragement  of  learning  and  private  school  societies, 
and  the  establishment  of  schools,  and  Massachusetts  in- 
cluded a  long  article  making  detailed  provisions  for  the  pro- 
tection and  maintenance  of  Harvard  College.  Of  the  eight 
other  colleges  in  the  colonies  at  the  beginning  of  the  War 
of  Independence,  no  other  State  made  any  constitutional 
mention  regarding  them.  The  Massachusetts  and  New 
Hampshire  provisions  for  the  encouragement  of  learning  are 
so  excellent,  and  so  much  ahead  of  the  general  conception 


EARLY  NATIONAL  AND  STATE  ATTITUDES       63 

of  the  time,  that  the  Massachusetts  provision,  which  was 
later  copied  by  New  Hampshire,  is  worth  quoting  in  full. 

Chap.  V,  Sec.  2.  Wisdom  and  knowledge,  as  well  as  virtue, 
diffused  generally  among  the  body  of  the  people,  being  necessary 
for  the  preservation  of  their  rights  and  liberties;  and  as  these 
depend  on  spreading  the  opportunities  and  advantages  of  educa- 
tion in  the  various  parts  of  the  country,  and  among  the  different 
orders  of  the  people,  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  legislatures  and 
magistrates,  in  all  future  periods  of  this  Commonwealth,  to  cherish 
the  interests  of  literature  and  the  sciences,  and  all  seminaries  of 
them;  especially  the  university  at  Cambridge,  public  schools, 
and  grammar  schools  in  the  towns;  to  encourage  private  societies 
and  public  institutions,  by  rewards  and  immunities,  for  the  promo- 
tion of  agriculture,  arts,  sciences,  commerce,  trades,  manufactures, 
and  a  natural  history  of  the  country;  to  countenance  and  inculcate 
the  principles  of  humanity  and  general  benevolence,  public  and 
private  charity,  industry  and  frugality,  honesty  and  punctuality 
in  their  dealings;  sincerity,  good  humor,  and  all  social  affections 
and  generous  sentiments  among  the  people. 

Vermont,  in  its  first  constitution  (1777),  directed  the  es- 
tablishment of  schools  in  each  town  "with  such  salaries  to 
the  masters,  paid  by  the  town"  as  would  "enable  them  to 
instruct  youth  at  low  prices,"  and  also  directed  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  grammar  school  in  each  county,  and  a  univer- 
sity for  the  State.  North  Carolina,  in  its  constitution  of 
the  preceding  year,  had  inserted  a  similar  provision  for  low- 
priced  instruction,  and  for  the  creation  of  a  state  univer- 
sity. In  a  supplemental  section  Vermont  also  directed  the 
encouragement  of  learning  and  private  school  societies, 
somewhat  after  the  Massachusetts  example.  In  the  revi- 
sion of  1787,  all  was  omitted  from  the  Vermont  constitu- 
tion except  the  supplemental  section. 

Pennsylvania,  in  its  constitution  of  1776,  directed  the  es- 
tablishment of  a  school  in  each  county,  "  with  such  salaries 
to  the  masters,  paid  by  the  public,  as  may  enable  them 
to  instruct  youth  at  low  prices";  directed  the  encourage- 
ment of  learning  in  one  or  more  universities;  and  then  added 
a  supplemental  section,  as  had  Vermont,  directing  the  en- 


64  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

couragement  of  learning  and  school  societies.  In  the  re- 
vision of  1790  all  this  was  abandoned  for  the  following 
brief  and  indefinite  directions  for  the  establishment  of  a 
pauper-school  system: 

Sec.  1.  The  legislature  shall,  as  soon  as  conveniently  may  be, 
provide,  by  law,  for  the  establishment  of  schools  throughout  the 
State,  in  such  manner  that  the  poor  may  be  taught  gratis. 

Sec.  2.  The  arts  and  sciences  shall  be  promoted  in  one  or  more 
seminaries  of  learning. 

These  constitutional  provisions  represent  the  mandates  re- 
lating to  public  education  which  seven  early  States  thought 
desirable  or  necessary.  Compared  with  a  modern  Western 
State  constitution  the  mention  of  education  made  in  them 
seems  very  hesitating  and  feeble.  As  in  the  earlier  period 
of  American  education,  it  was  Calvinistic  New  England 
which  provided  the  best  constitutional  provisions  for  learn- 
ing. On  the  other  hand,  it  was  the  old  Anglican  Church 
colonies  and  the  new  States  of  Kentucky  and  Tennessee 
which  were  silent  on  the  subject. 

The  early  state  school  laws.  Turning  next  to  the  early 
state  laws  regarding  schools,  we  find  in  them  a  still  better 
index  as  to  state  interest  in  and  effort  for  general  education. 
Examining  the  legislation  relating  to  the  establishment  of 
public  schools  which  was  enacted  before  1820,  and  omitting 
legislation  relating  to  colleges  and  academies,  we  find  that 
the  sixteen  States  in  the  Union  before  1800  classify  them- 
selves into  three  main  groups,  as  follows: 

1.  The  good-school-conditions  group. 

Vermont  Connecticut 

New  Hampshire  New  York 

Massachusetts 

(including  Maine) 

2.  The  pauper -parochial-school  group. 
Pennsylvania  Maryland 

New  Jersey  Virginia 

Delaware  Georgia 


EARLY  NATIONAL  AND  STATE  ATTITUDES      65 

3.  The  no-action  group. 
Rhode  Island  Kentucky 

North  Carolina  Tennessee 

South  Carolina 

The  good-school-conditions  group.  It  is  the  four  New 
England  States,  settled  originally  by  Calvinistic  Puritans, 
and  the  State  of  New  York,  which  by  1810  had  become  vir- 
tually a  westward  extension  of  New  England  by  reason  of 
the  settlement  of  all  central  New  York  by  New  England 
people  (see  Fig.  14),  which  early  made  the  best  provisions 
for  schools.  Beside  supporting  the  three  colony  colleges, 
Dartmouth,  Harvard,  and  Yale,  and  maintaining  grammar 
schools  and  academies,  the  laws  made,  for  the  time,  good 
provisions  for  elementary  education.  Summarized  briefly 
by  States  the  laws  enacted  provided  as  follows: 

Vermont.  First  general  state  school  law  in  1782.  District  sys- 
tem authorized.  Support  of  schools  by  district  tax  or  rate  bill  on 
parents  optional.  State  aid  granted.  1797  —  Districts  failing  to 
provide  schools  to  receive  no  state  assistance.  Reading,  writing, 
and  arithmetic  to  be  taught  in  all  schools.  1810  —  Town  school 
tax  obligatory,  and  gradually  increased  from  1  per  cent  to  3  per 
cent  by  1826.  1825  —  State  school  fund  created.  1827  —  New 
school  law  required  towns  to  build  school  buildings;  required 
certificates  of  teachers;  made  the  beginnings  of  school  supervision; 
and  added  spelling,  grammar,  history,  geography,  and  good  be- 
havior to  the  list  of  required  school  subjects. 

New  Hampshire.  First  general  state  school  law  in  1789.  Town 
tax  required,  and  rate  fixed;  teachers*  certificates  required;  Eng- 
lish schools  and  Latin  schools  required  in  the  larger  towns.  1791 
—  Town  taxes  for  schools  increased.  1821  —  State  school  fund 
created.  1827  —  Poor  children  to  be  provided  with  schoolbooks 
free. 

Massachusetts.  First  general  state  school  law  in  1789.  This 
legalized  the  practices  in  education  of  the  past  hundred  and  fifty 
years,  and  changed  them  into  state  requirements.  A  six-months 
elementary  school  required  in  every  town,  and  twelve-months  if 
having  100  families.  Also  a  six-months  grammar  school  required 
of  every  town  having  150  families,  and  twelve-months  if  200  fam- 
ilies.     All  teachers  to  be  certificated,  and  all  grammar  school 


rrriM.  ixn..  ••»!»• 


Fig.  14.  Showing  the  Westward  Expansion  of  New  England  into 
New  York,  New  Jersey,  and  Pennsylvania,  by  1810 

From  L.  K.  Mathews's  The  Expansion  of  New  England;  Houghton  Mifflin  Co.,  Boston, 
1909.    By  permission. 


EARLY  NATIONAL  AND  STATE  ATTITUDES   67 

teachers  to  be  college  graduates  or  certificated  by  the  minister  as 
skilled  in  Latin.  These  laws  also  applied  to  Maine,  which  was  a 
part  of  Massachusetts  until  1820. 

Connecticut.  Laws  of  1700  and  1712  required  all  parishes  or 
school  societies  operating  schools  to  maintain  an  elementary 
school  for  from  six  to  eleven  months  a  year,  varying  with  the  size 
of  the  parish.  Law  of  1714  required  inspection  of  schools  and 
teachers.  These  laws  continued  in  force  by  the  new  State.  A 
permanent  school  fund  had  been  created  in  1750  by  the  sale  of  some 
Connecticut  lands,  and  in  1795,  on  the  sale  of  the  Western  Reserve 
in  Ohio  for  $1,200,000.  This  was  added  to  the  permanent  school 
fund.     1798  —  School  visitors  and  overseers  ordered  appointed. 

New  York.  Little  of  an  educational  nature  had  been  done  in  this 
State  before  the  Revolution,  except  in  the  matter  of  church  charity 
schools.  In  1795  a  law,  valid  for  five  years,  was  enacted  which 
distributed  $100,000  a  year  to  the  counties  for  schools.  By  1798 
there  were  1352  schools  in  16  of  the  23  counties,  and  59,660  chil- 
dren were  enrolled.  On  the  expiration  of  the  law,  in  1800,  it  could 
not  be  reenacted.  By  1812,  when  the  first  permanent  school  law 
was  enacted,  New  England  immigration  into  the  State  had  coun- 
ter balanced  the  private-parochial-charity-school  attitude  of  New 
York  City.  The  Massachusetts  district  system  was  instituted, 
local  taxation  required,  state  aid  distributed  on  the  basis  of  school 
census,  and  the  first  State  Superintendent  of  Schools  provided  for. 
In  1814  teachers  were  ordered  examined.  By  1820  New  York 
schools  probably  the  best  of  any  State  in  the  Union. 

The  pauper-parochial-school  group.  The  six  States  of 
this  group  are  the  old  middle  colonies,  where  the  parochial- 
school  and  the  pauper-school  attitudes,  described  under 
Chapter  II,  had  been  most  prominent,  and  one  Southern 
St  ate.  The  idea  had  become  so  fixed  in  these  middle  colonies 
that  education  belonged  to  the  Church  and  to  charitable 
organizations  that  any  interference  by  the  State,  beyond  as- 
m ting  in  the  maintenance  of  pauper  schools,  came  in  time 
to  be  bitterly  resented.  Briefly  summarized,  by  States, 
the  legislation  enacted  provided  as  follows: 

Pennsylvania.  The  constitution  of  1776  had  directed  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  school  in  each  county,  where  youths  should  be  taught 
at  low  prices,  but  the  constitution  of  1790  had  directed  instead  the 


68  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

establishment,  at  the  convenience  of  the  legislature,  of  a  series  o! 
pauper  schools.  The  first  law  was  in  1802,  and  this  provided  only 
for  the  education  of  the  pauper  children  in  each  county.  In  1824 
a  better  law  was  enacted,  but  its  acceptance  was  optional,  and  in 
1826  it  was  repealed  and  the  pauper-school  law  of  1802  continued. 
The  first  free-school  law  dates  from  1834.  Even  this  was  optional, 
and  was  at  first  accepted  by  but  little  more  than  half  of  the  school 
districts  in  the  State. 

Delaware.  In  1796  a  state  school  fund  was  created  from  the  pro- 
ceeds of  tavern  and  marriage  licenses.  This  accumulated  unused 
until  1817,  when  $1000  a  year  was  appropriated  from  the  income 
to  each  of  the  three  counties  for  the  instruction  of  the  children  of 
the  poor  in  reading,  writing,  and  arithmetic.  In  1821  aid  was 
extended  to  Sunday  Schools.  In  1821  a  so-called  free-school  law 
was  enacted,  by  which  the  State  duplicated  amounts  raised  by 
subscription  or  contribution,  but  by  1833  only  133  districts  in  the 
State  were  operating  under  the  law.  The  schools  of  Wilmington 
date  from  1821.  In  1843  an  educational  convention  adopted  a 
resolution  opposing  taxation  for  free  schools.  First  real  school 
law  in  1861. 

Maryland.  No  constitutional  mention  until  1864.  Many 
academies  chartered,  and  lotteries  much  used  for  their  aid  between 
1801  and  1817.  1812  —  School  fund  begun  by  a  tax  on  banks. 
1816  —  First  property  tax  to  aid  schools  for  the  poor.  1826  — 
First  general  school  law,  but  acceptance  optional  with  the  counties; 
too  advanced  and  never  in  operation,  except  in  Baltimore.  No 
school  system  until  after  the  Civil  War. 

Virginia.  The  efforts  of  Jefferson  to  establish  a  complete  school 
system  for  the  State  failed.  1796  —  Optional  school  law,  but  little 
done  under  it.  1810  —  Permanent  school  fund  started.  1818  — 
Law  providing  for  a  charity  school  system  enacted.  By  1843  es- 
timated that  half  the  indigent  children  in  the  State  were  receiving 
sixty  days  schooling.  1846  —  Better  school  law  enacted,  but 
optional,  and  only  nine  counties  ever  used  it.  1870  —  First  real 
school  law. 

New  Jersey.  This  State  might  also  be  classed  in  the  no-action 
group.  Nothing  was  done  until  1816,  when  a  state  school  fund 
was  begun.  In  1820  permission  to  levy  a  local  tax  for  schools  was 
granted.  In  1828  a  report  showed  that  one  third  of  the  children 
of  the  State  were  growing  up  without  a  chance  for  any  education. 
Largely  in  consequence  of  this  the  first  general  school  law  was 


EARLY  NATIONAL  AND  STATE  ATTITUDES       69 

enacted,  in  1829,  but  the  next  year  this  was  repealed,  as  a  result 
of  bitter  opposition  from  the  private  and  church-school  interests, 
and  the  State  followed  Pennsylvania's  example  and  went  over  to 
the  pauper-school  idea  of  state  action.  In  1830  and  1831  laws 
limited  state  educational  effort  to  aiding  schools  for  the  education 
of  the  children  of  the  poor.  In  1838  the  beginnings  of  a  state  public 
school  system  were  made,  and  in  1844  state  aid  was  limited  to 
public  schools.  First  constitutional  mention  of  education  in  1844. 
Georgia.  In  1817  a  fund  of  $250,000  was  created  for  free  schools. 
Schools  for  poor  children  were  opened  in  Savannah  in  1818,  and 
Augusta  in  1821.  1822  —  Income  of  fund  appropriated  to  pay 
tuition  of  poor  children.  1837  —  Free  school  system  established, 
but  law  repealed  in  1840.  1858  —  Word  "poor"  eliminated  from 
law.     Real  state  school  system  dates  from  after  Civil  War. 

The  no-action  group.  This  group  contains  the  reli- 
gious-freedom state  of  Rhode  Island,  two  of  the  States  which 
were  for  long  imbued  with  the  Anglican  "  no-business-of- 
the-State"  attitude,  and  the  two  new  States  of  Tennessee 
and  Kentucky,  settled  largely  by  "poor  whites"  and  others 
from  the  Carolinas  and  Virginia.  Examining  the  legisla- 
tion, or  rather  lack  of  legislation  in  these  States,  we  find 
the  following: 

Rhode  Island.  First  constitutional  mention  in  1842.  The  first 
school  law  for  the  colony  was  enacted  in  1800,  at  the  instance  of 
a  group  of  citizens  of  Providence.  Schools  were  ordered  estab- 
lished in  every  town  in  the  State  for  instruction  in  reading,  writing, 
and  arithmetic,  and  some  state  aid  was  given.  Providence  and 
other  towns  established  schools,  and  so  great  was  the  opposition 
to  the  law  that  it  was  repealed  in  1803.  In  1825  Newport  was  per- 
mitted to  start  schools  for  its  poor  children.  It  was  not  until  1828 
that  a  permissive  state  school  law  was  enacted,  and  by  1831  there 
were  only  323  public  schools  and  375  public  teachers  in  the  State. 

North  Carolina.  A  School  Society  for  the  education  of  females 
was  chartered  in  1811.  In  1810  legislature  appointed  a  commission 
to  report  a  school  law.  1817  —  Good  plan  reported,  but  legisla- 
ture would  not  approve.  1824  —  Another  commission  appointed. 
1825  —  Reported  a  bill  for  a  pauper-school  system,  which  also 
was  not  approved.  1825  —  Permanent  state  school  fund  begun. 
1839  —  First  bill  creating  an  elementary  school  system. 


70 


EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 


South  Carolina.  In  1811  Charleston  permitted  to  organize 
charity  schools.  1836  —  Report  made  recommending  a  state 
system  of  charity  schools;  not  adopted.  1854  —  Charleston  peti- 
tioned to  be  permitted  to  make  its  schools  free;  granted  in  1856. 
State  school  system  dates  from  after  the  Civil  War. 

Kentucky.  First  provision  for  aid  for  common  schools  in  1821, 
but  legislature  diverted  funds.  1830  —  First  general  school  law; 
dead  letter,  largely  through  lack  of  any  interest  in  schools.  1853 
—  School  in  each  county  for  first  time. 

Tennessee.  First  school  law  in  1830,  establishing  the  district 
system,  and  schools  open  to  all. 

State  attitudes  summarized.  Figure  15  sets  forth  graphi- 
cally the  state  attitudes  toward  education  which  have  just 


KEY 

Attitude  Assumed 

Strong  State     f 
Weak  State 
Pauper  School  R] 
Indifferent 


Fig.  15.  Early  Attitude  assumed  toward  Public  Education  by 
the  Original  States,  and  the  States  later  carved  from  the 
Ceded  National  Domain 


EARLY  NATIONAL  AND  STATE  ATTITUDES       71 

been  summarized.  From  this  map  it  will  be  seen,  even 
better  than  from  the  descriptions  of  constitutional  enact- 
ments and  early  legislation,  what  an  important  part  reli- 
gion played,  with  us,  in  the  establishment  of  a  public  school 
attitude.  It  was  the  Calvinistic-Puritan  States  of  New 
England  which  most  deeply  believed  in  education  as  a  ne- 
cessity for  salvation,  and  they  so  established  the  school  idea 
among  their  people  that  this  belief  in  schools  persisted  after 
the  religious  motive  for  education  had  died  out.  Spreading 
westward,  they  carried  their  belief  in  education  into  the  new 
States  in  which  they  settled.  In  the  middle  colonies,  where 
the  parochial  school  idea  and  the  plan  of  apprenticing  and 
educating  orphans  and  paupers  dominated,  we  see  States 
where  all  elementary  educational  effort  was  turned  over  to 
private,  church,  and  pauper  schools,  the  State  aiding  only 
the  last,  or  at  most  the  last  two.  In  the  religious-freedom 
State  of  Rhode  Island,  and  the  old  Anglican  colonies  of 
New  Jersey  and  the  Carolinas,  we  see  the  English  "no- 
business-of-the-State "  attitude  for  a  time  reflected  in  the 
indifference  of  the  State  to  education.  The  four  new  States 
west  of  these  southern  colonies  —  Kentucky,  Tennessee, 
Mississippi,  and  Alabama  —  in  large  part  reflected  the  atti- 
tude of  the  States  to  the  eastward  from  which  their  early 
immigrants  came. 

The  North-West-Territory  States.  The  settlement  of  the 
States  of  the  North-West  Territory  is  an  interesting  ex- 
emplification of  the  influence  on  education  of  the  early 
settlements  we  have  so  far  studied,  and  much  of  the  early 
educational  history  of  these  States  is  to  be  understood  when 
viewed  in  the  light  of  their  settlement. 

Immediately  after  the  close  of  the  Revolutionary  War 
settlers  from  the  different  States  of  the  new  Union  began 
to  move  to  the  new  territory  to  the  westward.  To  the 
north,  a  great  movement  of  New  England  people  began  into 
central  New  York  and  northern  Pennsylvania,  and  from 
then  until  1810,  when  the  tide  of  immigration  turned  farther 
westward,  the  history  of  these  two  regions  is  in  large  part 


72  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

the  history  of  the  westward  expansion  of  New  England.  By 
1810  more  than  one  half  of  New  York,  one  fourth  of  Penn- 
sylvania, portions  of  New  Jersey,  and  the  Western  Reserve 
in  Ohio  (see  map,  Fig.  14)  had  been  settled  by  New  England 
people.  In  New  York  they  counterbalanced  the  earlier  pre- 
dominance of  the  Anglicans,  helped  materially  in  securing 
the  first  permanent  school  law  for  the  State,  in  1812,  and  in 
carrying  the  State  for  free  schools  in  the  referenda  of  1849 
and  1850.  They  also  helped  to  counteract  the  German 
Lutheran  parochial  element  in  the  battle  for  free  schools  in 
Pennsylvania,  in  1834  and  1835. 

After  1810  the  tide  of  migration  of  New  England  people 
set  in  strong  to  the  new  States  to  the  west  of  New  York,  fol- 
lowing the  northern  route,  and  by  1850  one  half  of  the 
settled  portions  of  the  old  North- West  Territory  had  been 
populated  by  New  England  stock,  while  many  settlements 
had  been  founded  beyond  the  Mississippi  River.  The  his- 
tory of  these  migrations  often  repeated  the  old  story  of  the 
Puritan  migrations  to  New  England.  Congregations,  with 
their  ministers,  frequently  migrated  to  the  West  in  a  body. 
A  new  Granville,  or  Plymouth,  or  Norwalk,  or  Greenwich 
in  the  wilderness  was  a  child  of  the  old  town  of  that  name 
in  New  England.  An  almost  ceaseless  train  of  wagons 
poured  westward,  and  the  frontier  was  soon  pushed  out  to 
and  beyond  the  Mississippi.  Wherever  the  New  Englander 
went  he  invariably  took  his  New  England  institutions  with 
him.  Congregational  churches  were  established,  new  Yales 
and  Dartmouths  founded,  common  schools  and  the  Massa- 
chusetts district  system  were  introduced,  and  the  town  form 
of  government  and  the  town  meeting  were  organized  in  the 
new  Congressional  townships  —  a  ready-made  unit  which 
the  New  Englander  found  easily  adaptable  to  his  ideas  of 
town  government. 

Into  these  new  States  and  territories  to  the  westward 
came  also  other  settlers,  along  the  southern  route,  with  dif- 
ferent political,  religious,  and  educational  training.  Those 
from  Pennsylvania  came  from  where  town  government  was 


Fio.  16.  Showing  the  Westward  Expansion  op  New  England  into 
the  Old  North-West  Territory  by  1840 

From  L.  K.  Matbewi'i  The  Ezpantion  qf  Sew  England;  Houghton  Mifflin  Co.,  Boston, 
1900.     By  permiauon. 


74  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

weak,  where  public  free  schools  had  not  been  developed, 
and  where  the  charity  conception  of  education  had  for  long 
prevailed.  Settlers  from  Kentucky,  Tennessee,  Virginia, 
and  North  Carolina,  commonly  the  descendants  of  the  "poor 
whites  "  who  had  not  been  able  to  secure  land  or  property  or 
to  establish  themselves  there,  also  moved  westward  and  north- 
ward and  settled  in  the  river  valleys  of  the  southern  and  cen- 
tral portions  of  Ohio,  Indiana,  and  Illinois.  These  people 
came  from  States  where  slavery  and  plantation  life  prevailed, 
where  religion,  especially  for  the  poor,  was  by  no  means  a 
vital  matter,  and  where  free  schools  were  virtually  unknown. 

Mingling  of  the  two  classes  of  people.  These  two  classes 
of  people  met  and  struggled  for  supremacy  in  Ohio,  Indiana, 
and  Illinois,  and  the  political,  religious,  and  educational  his- 
tory of  these  States  has  been  determined  in  large  part  by  the 
preponderance  of  one  or  the  other  of  these  people.  Where 
the  New  England  people  were  in  the  ascendancy,  as  in  Ohio, 
and  also  in  Michigan  and  early  Wisconsin,  the  governmental 
forms  were  most  like  New  England,  and  the  zeal  for  educa- 
tion, religion,  and  local  governmental  control  have  been  most 
marked.  Where  the  Southern  element  predominated,  as  for 
a  time  in  Illinois,  the  result  has  been  the  opposite.  Where 
the  two  mingled  on  somewhat  even  terms,  as  in  Indiana,  we 
find  a  compromise  between  them.  The  opening  of  Missouri 
to  slavery,  in  1820,  deflected  the  tide  of  southern  migration 
from  Indiana  and  Illinois  to  that  State,  and  gave  the  New 
England  element  a  chance  to  extend  its  influence  over  almost 
all  the  North- West-Territory  States.  The  importance  of 
this  extension  of  and  conquest  by  the  New  England  element 
can  hardly  be  overestimated.  From  these  States  most  of 
the  West  and  Southwest  was  in  turn  settled  and  organized 
into  state  governments,  and  to  these  new  regions  New  Eng- 
land educational  ideas  in  time  were  spread. 

Educational  attitudes  in  the  North-West  States.  The 
effect  of  the  predominance  or  mingling  of  these  two  classes 
is  clearly  shown  in  the  early  state  attitudes  toward  educa- 
tion, as  stated  in  the  constitutions  and  laws. 


EARLY  NATIONAL  STATE  AND  ATTITUDES      75 

The  Ohio  constitutional  provision  of  1802  is  noteworthy 
for  its  strong  stand  for  the  encouragement  of  learning  and 
the  interdiction  of  pauper  schools  in  the  State,  and  as  re- 
flecting the  influence  of  the  national  land  grants  and  the 
national  attitude  regarding  religious  freedom.     It  reads : 

Art.  VIII,  25.  That  no  law  shall  be  passed  to  prevent  the  poor 
in  the  several  counties  and  townships  within  the  State  from  an 
equal  participation  in  the  schools,  academies,  colleges,  and  univer- 
sities within  this  State,  which  are  endowed,  in  whole  or  in  part, 
from  the  revenues  arising  from  the  donations  made  by  the  United 
States  for  the  support  of  schools  and  colleges;  and  the  doors  of  said 
schools,  academies,  and  universities  shall  be  open  for  the  reception 
of  scholars,  students,  and  teachers  of  every  grade,  without  distinc- 
tion, or  preference  whatever,  contrary  to  the  intent  for  which  said 
donations  were  made. 

In  1821  a  permissive  school  law  was  enacted,  and  in  1825  a 
new  school  law  laid  the  foundations  of  a  state  system,  based 
on  the  Massachusetts  district  system,  county  taxation,  and 
the  certification  of  teachers. 

The  Indiana  constitution  of  1816  threw  safeguards  about 
the  national  land  grants  for  schools,  and  was  the  first  to  issue 
a  comprehensive  mandate  to  the  legislature  ordering  the 
establishment  of  a  complete  free  state  system  of  schools. 
This  latter  reads : 

Art  IX,  Sec.  2.  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  general  assembly,  as 
soon  as  circumstances  will  permit,  to  provide  by  law  for  a  general 
system  of  education,  ascending  in  regular  gradations  from  town- 
ship schools  to  a  State  university,  wherein  tuition  shall  be  gratis 
and  equally  open  to  all. 

So  evenly  balanced  were  the  Northern  and  Southern  ele- 
ments in  Indiana,  however,  that  this  mandate  of  the  consti- 
tution was  difficult  to  carry  out,  and,  despite  legislation 
which  will  be  described  in  Chapter  IV,  the  real  beginning  of 
a  state  school  system  in  Indiana  dates  from  1851. 

Illinois  shows  the  Southern  element  in  control.  Neither 
the  constitution  of  1818  nor  the  one  of  1848  made  any  men- 


76  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

tion  of  education.  A  good  school  law,  said  to  have  been 
the  best  outside  of  New  England,  was  enacted  in  1825,  but 
was  nullified  two  years  later  by  legislation  which  provided 
that  no  man  could  be  taxed  for  schools  without  his  written 
consent,  and  which  permitted  the  maintenance  of  schools 
in  part  by  tuition  fees.  It  was  not  until  1841,  and  after  the 
New  England  people  had  become  a  majority,  that  this 
nullifying  legislation  of  1827  could  be  repealed. 

Michigan  was  not  admitted  as  a  State  until  1835,  but  the 
territorial  legislature,  in  1827,  adopted  a  good  school  law, 
modeled  on  the  Massachusetts  legislation.  In  1829  the 
property  of  non-residents  was  made  subject  to  taxation 
for  schools  —  at  that  time  rather  advanced  legislation. 
The  first  state  constitution,  of  1835,  provided  for  the  ap- 
pointment of  the  first  permanent  State  Superintendent  of 
Public  Instruction  in  any  State,  and  ordered: 

Sec.  3.  The  legislature  shall  provide  for  a  system  of  common 
schools,  by  which  a  school  shall  be  kept  up  and  supported  in  each 
school  district  at  least  three  months  in  every  year;  and  any  school 
district  neglecting  to  keep  up  and  support  such  school  may  be 
deprived  of  its  equal  proportion  of  the  interest  of  the  public  (school) 
fund. 

Wisconsin  was  a  part  of  Michigan  until  1836,  and  the 
Michigan  legislation  applied  to  Wisconsin  territory.  In 
1840  the  first  Wisconsin  school  law  provided  for  the  Mas- 
sachusetts district  school  system,  a  school  census,  and  dis- 
trict taxation  for  schools,  and  when  the  State  was  admitted, 
in  1848,  the  New  England  traditions  as  to  education  had 
become  so  firmly  fixed,  and  the  new  forces  working  for  pop- 
ular education  in  the  State  had  begun  to  have  such  an  in- 
fluence, that  the  school  code  of  1849  was  quite  modern  in 
character. 

No  real  educational  consciousness  before  about  1820. 
Regardless  of  the  national  land  grants  for  education  made 
to  the  new  States,  the  provisions  of  the  different  state  con- 
stitutions, the  beginnings  made  here  and  there  in  the  few 
cities  of  the  time,  and  the  early  state  laws,  we  can  hardly 


EARLY  NATIONAL  AND  STATE  ATTITUDES       77 

be  said,  as  a  people,  to  have  developed  an  educational  con- 
sciousness, outside  of  New  England  and  New  York,  before/  . 
about  1820,  and  in  some  of  the  States,  especially  in  the/ 
South,  a  state  educational  consciousness  was  not  awakened 
until  very  much  later.  Even  in  New  England  there  was  a 
steady  decline  in  education,  as  the  district  system  became 
more  and  more  firmly  fixed,  during  the  first  fifty  years  of 
our  national  history. 

There  were  many  reasons  in  our  national  life  for  this  lack 
of  interest  in  education  among  the  masses  of  our  people. 
The  simple  agricultural  life  of  the  time,  the  homogeneity 
of  the  people,  the  absence  of  cities,  the  isolation  and  inde- 
pendence of  the  villages,  the  lack  of  full  manhood  suffrage 
in  a  number  of  the  States,  the  want  of  any  economic  demand 
for  education,  and  the  fact  that  no  important  political  ques- 
tion calling  for  settlement  at  the  polls  had  as  yet  arisen, 
made  the  need  for  schools  and  learning  seem  a  relatively 
minor  one.  There  were  but  six  cities  of  8000  inhabitants 
or  over  in  the  country  as  late  as  1810,  and  even  in  these  life 
was  far  simpler  than  in  a  small  Western  village  to-day. 
There  was  little  need  for  book  learning  among  the  masses 
of  the  people  to  enable  them  to  transact  the  ordinary  busi- 
ness of  life.  A  person  who  could  read  and  write  and  cipher 
in  that  time  was  an  educated  man,  while  the  absence  of 
these  arts  was  not  by  any  means  a  matter  of  reproach. 

The  country,  too,  was  still  very  poor.  The  Revolutionary 
War  debt  still  hung  in  part  over  the  Nation,  and  the  demand 
for  money  and  labor  for  all  kinds  of  internal  improvements 
was  very  large.  The  country  had  few  industries,  and  its 
foreign  trade  was  badly  hampered  by  European  nations. 
France  gave  us  trouble  for  a  decade,  while  England  made  it 
evident  that,  though  we  had  gained  our  political  independ- 
ence, we  should  have  to  fight  again  if  we  were  to  win  our 
commercial  freedom.  Ways  and  means  of  strengthening 
the  existing  government  and  holding  the  Union  together, 
rather  than  plans  which  could  bear  fruit  only  in  the  future, 
occupied  the  attention  of  the  leaders  of  the  time.     "The 


78  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

Constitution,"  as  John  Quincy  Adams  expressed  it,  "was 
extorted  from  the  grinding  necessities  of  a  reluctant  people" 
to  escape  anarchy  and  the  ultimate  entire  loss  of  independ- 
ence, and  many  had  grave  doubts  as  to  the  permanence 
of  the  Union.  It  was  not  until  after  the  close  of  the  War  of 
1812  that  belief  in  the  stability  of  the  Union  and  in  the  ca- 
pacity of  the  people  to  govern  themselves  became  the  belief 
of  the  many  rather  than  the  very  few,  and  plans  for  educa- 
tion and  national  development  began  to  obtain  a  serious 
hearing. 

When  we  had  finally  settled  our  political  and  commercial 
future  by  the  War  of  1812-14,  and  had  built  up  a  national 
consciousness  on  a  democratic  basis  in  the  years  immediately 
following,  and  the  Nation  at  last  possessed  the  energy,  the 
money,  and  the  interest  for  doing  so,  we  then  turned  our 
energies  toward  the  creation  of  a  democratic  system  of 
public  schools.  In  the  meantime,  education,  outside  of  New 
England  and  in  part  even  there,  was  left  largely  to  private 
individuals,  churches,  incorporated  school  societies,  and 
such  state  schools  for  the  children  of  the  poor  as  might  have 
been  provided  by  private  or  state  funds,  or  the  two  com- 
bined. 

The  real  interest  in  advanced  education.  In  so  far  as 
we  may  be  said  to  have  possessed  a  real  interest  in  educa- 
tion during  the  first  half-century  of  our  national  existence, 
it  was  manifested  in  the  establishment  and  endowment  of 
academies  and  colleges  rather  than  in  the  creation  of  schools 
for  the  people.  The  colonial  Latin  grammar  school  had 
been  almost  entirely  an  English  institution,  and  never  well 
suited  to  American  needs.  As  democratic  consciousness 
began  to  arise,  the  demand  came  for  a  more  practical  insti- 
tution, less  exclusive  and  less  aristocratic  in  character,  and 
better  adapted  in  its  instruction  to  the  needs  of  a  frontier 
society.  Arising  about  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury, a  number  of  so-called  Academies  had  been  founded 
before  the  new  National  Government  took  shape.  While 
essentially  private  institutions,  arising  from  a  church  foun- 


EARLY  NATIONAL  AND  STATE  ATTITUDES       79 

dation,  or  more  commonly  a  local  subscription  or  endow- 
ment, it  became  customary  for  towns,  counties,  and  States 
to  assist  in  their  maintenance,  thus  making  them  semi- 
public  institutions.  Their  management,  though,  usually 
remained  in  private  hands,  or  under  boards  or  associations. 
After  the  beginning  of  our  national  life  a  number  of  the 
States  founded  and  endowed  a  state  system  of  academies. 
Massachusetts,  in  1797,  granted  land  endowments  to  ap- 
proved academies.  Georgia,  in  1783,  created  a  system  of 
county  academies  for  the  State.  New  York  extended  state 
aid  to  its  academies,  in  1813,  having  put  them  under  state 
inspection  as  early  as  1787.  Maryland  chartered  many 
academies  between  1801  and  1817,  and  authorized  many 
lotteries  to  provide  them  with  funds,  as  did  also  North  Caro- 
lina. Ohio,  Kentucky,  and  Indiana,  among  Western  States, 
also  provided  for  county  systems  of  academies. 

Character  of  the  academy  training.  The  study  of  Latin 
and  a  little  Greek  had  constituted  the  curriculum  of  the  old 
Latin  grammar  school,  and  its  purpose  had  been  almost  ex- 
clusively to  prepare  boys  for  admission  to  the  colony  col- 
leges. In  true  English  style,  Latin  was  made  the  language 
of  the  classroom,  and  even  attempted  for  the  playground  as 
well.  As  a  concession,  reading,  writing,  and  arithmetic  were 
sometimes  taught.  The  new  academies,  while  retaining  the 
study  of  Latin,  and  usually  Greek,  though  now  taught 
through  the  medium  of  English,  added  a  number  of  new 
studies  adapted  to  the  needs  of  a  new  society.  English 
grammar  was  introduced  and  soon  rose  to  a  place  of  great 
importance,  as  did  also  oratory  and  declamation.  Arith- 
metic, algebra,  geometry,  geography,  and  astronomy  were  in 
time  added,  and  surveying,  rhetoric  (including  some  litera- 
ture), natural  and  moral  philosophy,  and  Roman  antiqui- 
ties were  frequently  taught.  Girls  were  admitted  rather 
freely  to  the  new  academies,  whereas  the  grammar  schools 
had  been  exclusively  for  boys.  For  better  instruction  a 
"female  department"  was  frequently  organized.  The  acad- 
emies, beside  offering  a  fair  type  of  higher  training  before 


80 


EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 


the  days  of  high  schools,  also  became  training  schools  for 
teachers,  and  before  the  rise  of  the  normal  schools  were  the 
chief  source  of  supply  for  the  better  grade  of  elementary 
teachers.  These  institutions  rendered  an  important  service 
during  the  first  half  of  the  nineteenth  century,  but  were  in 
time  displaced  by  the  publicly  supported  and  publicly  con- 
trolled American  high 
school,  the  first  of  which 
dates  from  1821.  This 
evolution  we  shall  de- 
scribe more  in  detail  in 
a  later  chapter. 

The  colleges  of  the 
time.  Some  interest  also 
was  taken  in  college  ed- 
ucation during  this  early 
national  period.  Col- 
lege attendance,  how- 
ever, was  small,  as  the 
country  was  still  new 
and  the  people  were  poor.  As  late  as  1815  Harvard  gradu- 
ated a  class  of  but  66;  Yale  of  69;  Princeton  of  40;  Wil- 
liams of  40;  Pennsylvania  of  15;  and  the  University  of 
South  Carolina  of  37.  After  the  organization  of  the  Union 
the  nine  old  colonial  colleges  were  reorganized,  and  an  at- 
tempt was  made  to  bring  them  into  closer  harmony  with  the 
ideas  and  needs  of  the  people  and  the  governments  of  the 
States.  Dartmouth,  Kings  (now  rechristened  Columbia), 
and  Pennsylvania  were  for  a  time  changed  into  state  insti- 
tutions, and  an  unsuccessful  attempt  was  made  to  make  a 
state  university  for  Virginia  out  of  William  and  Mary.  Be- 
tween 1790  and  1825  there  was  much  discussion  as  to  the 
desirability  of  founding  a  national  university  at  the  seat  of 
government,  and  Washington  in  his  will  (1799)  left,  for  that 
time,  a  considerable  sum  to  the  Nation  to  inaugurate  the 
new  undertaking.  Nothing  ever  came  of  it,  however.  Be- 
fore 1825    six   States  —  Virginia,  North  Carolina,  South 


Fig.  17.  A  Pennsylvania  Academy 

York  Academy,  York,  Pennsylvania,  founded  by  the 
Protestant  Episcopal  Church,  in  1787. 


EARLY  NATIONAL  AND  STATE  ATTITUDES      81 

Carolina,  Georgia,  Indiana,  and  Michigan  —  had  laid  the 
foundations  of  future  state  universities.  The  National  Gov- 
ernment had  also  granted  to  each  new  Western  State  two 
entire  townships  of  land  to  help  endow  a  university  in  each, 
—  a  stimulus  which  eventually  led  to  the  establishment  of 
a  state  university  in  every  Western  State. 

QUESTIONS  FOR  DISCUSSION 

1.  Why  does  education  not  make  much  progress  during  periods  of  war- 
fare or  intense  political  agitation? 

2.  Contrast  conditions  as  regards  education  in  1789  and  to-day. 

3.  Explain  how  the  religious-freedom  attitude  of  the  national  constitu- 
tion conferred  an  inestimable  boon  on  the  States  in  the  matter  of 
public  schools. 

4.  Explain  the  change  from  the  religious  to  the  political  motive  for  main- 
taining schools. 

5.  Does  the  quotation  from  Washington  evidence  as  clear  a  conception 
of  educational  needs  in  a  democracy  as  those  from  Jefferson? 

6.  What  conception  of  education  had  John  Jay  in  mind? 

7.  After  the  leaders  of  the  time  had  come  to  see  the  need  for  the  education 
of  the  masses,  why  did  it  take  so  long  to  obtain  the  establishment  of 
state  school  systems? 

8.  Try  to  picture  what  might  have  been  the  educational  conditions  and 
development  in  this  country:  (a)  Had  the  New  England  element  had 
small  families  and  remained  in  New  England;  (6)  Had  New  England 
been  settled  by  Anglicans,  and  no  Calvinistic  Puritans  had  ever  come 
to  North  America;  (c)  Had  the  Puritans  settled  in  Virginia,  as  they 
started  out  to  do. 

9.  Explain  why  we  were  so  slow  in  developing  an  educational  conscious- 
ness. 

10.  Explain  why  the  academy  and  the  college  naturally  awakened  a 
much  deeper  interest  before  1820  than  did  common  schools. 

11.  Explain  why  Oratory  and  Declamation  naturally  played  such  a 
prominent  part  in  the  work  of  the  early  academies  and  colleges. 

12.  Explain  the  great  popularity  of  the  academy,  as  compared  with  the 
older  Latin  grammar  school. 

13.  Explain  the  larger  interest  in  secondary  and  advanced  education 
during  the  first  quarter  of  a  century  of  our  national  history. 

14.  How  might  the  educational  history  of  the  North- West-Territory 
States  have  been  different  had  the  Nation  never  made  the  Louisiana 
purchase? 

15.  Explain  the  more  liberal  provisions  of  the  Ohio  constitution. 


Sfc  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 


TOPICS  FOR  INVESTIGATION  AND  REPORT 

1.  The  National  land  grants  for  education,  and  their  influence.     (Cub- 
berley  &  Elliott;  Monroe.) 

2.  The  rise  and  early  influence  of  the  Academy.     (E.  E.  Brown.) 

3.  Early  state  constitutional  provisions.     (Cubberley  &  Elliott.) 

4.  The  early  American  colleges  and  the  nature  of  their  work.     (Dexter.) 

5.  The  westward  expansion  of  New  England.     (Mathews.) 

SELECTED  REFERENCES 

Cubberley,  E.  P.  and  Elliott,  E.  C.    State  and  County  School  Administration; 
Source  Book.    728  pp.    The  Macmillan  Co.,  New  York,  1915. 

Chapter  I  reproduces  all  constitutional  provisions  before  1800,  and  Chapter  II  gives 
all  the  important  sources  relating  to  the  national  land  grants  to  the  States. 

Dexter,  E.  G.  History  of  Education  in  the  United  States.     656  pp.     The 
Macmillan  Co.,  New  York,  1904. 

Contains  a  good  brief  summary  of  the  work  of  the  early  colleges. 

Martin,  G.  H.     The  Evolution  of  the  Massachusetts  Public  School  System. 
284  pp.    D.  Appleton  &  Co.,  New  York,  1894. 

*Mathews,  Lois  K.     The  Expansion  of  New  England.    301pp.    Houghton 
Miflain  Co.,  Boston,  1909. 

Chapters  VI-VIII  are  excellent  on  the  great  migrations  to  the  westward,  and  the 
planting  of  new  commonwealths  in  the  wilderness. 

Monroe,  Paul.    Cyclopedia  of  Education.    The  Macmillan  Co.,  New  York, 
1911-13. 

The  following  article  is  especially  important: 

"National  Government  and  Education";  vol.  n,  pp.  372-82. 


CHAPTER  IV 

INFLUENCES  TENDING  TO  AWAKEN  AN  EDUCATIONAL 
CONSCIOUSNESS 

I.  Philanthropic  Influences 
A  half-century  of  transition.  The  first  half-century  of 
our  national  life  may  be  regarded  as  a  period  of  transition 
from  the  church-control  idea  of  education  over  to  the  idea  of 
education  under  the  control  of  and  supported  by  the  State. 
It  required  time  to  make  this  change  in  thinking.  Up  to  the 
period  of  the  beginnings  of  our  national  development  edu- 
cation had  almost  everywhere  been  regarded  as  an  affair  of 
the  Church,  somewhat  akin  to  baptism,  marriage,  the  ad- 
ministration of  the  sacraments,  and  the  burial  of  the  dead. 
Even  in  New  England,  which  formed  an  exception,  the 
evolution  of  the  civic  school  from  the  church  school  was  not 
yet  complete.  A  number  of  new  forces  —  philanthropic, 
political,  social,  economic  —  now  combined  to  produce  con- 
ditions which  made  state  rather  than  church  control  and 
support  of  education  seem  both  desirable  and  feasible.  The 
rise  of  a  new  national  government  based  on  the  two  new  prin- 
ciples of  political  equality  and  religious  freedom,  together 
with  the  rise  of  new  economic  conditions  which  made  some 
education  for  all  seem  necessary  for  economic  as  well  as  for 
political  ends,  changed  this  age-old  situation. 

The  church  charity  school  had  become,  as  we  have  seen, 
a  familiar  institution  before  the  Revolution.  The  English 
"Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  Foreign 
Parts,"  which  maintained  schools  in  connection  with  the 
Anglican  churches  in  the  Anglican  colonies,  and  provided  an 
excellent  grade  of  charity-school  master,  withdrew  at  the 
close  of  the  Revolutionary  War  from  work  in  this  country. 
The  different  churches  after  the  war  continued  their  efforts 
to  maintain  their  church  charity  schools,  though  there  was 


84  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

for  a  time  a  decrease  in  both  their  numbers  and  their  effec- 
tiveness. In  the  meantime  the  demand  for  education  grew 
rather  rapidly,  and  the  task  soon  became  too  big  for  the 
churches  to  handle.  For  long  the  churches  made  an  effort 
to  keep  up,  as  they  were  loath  to  relinquish  in  any  way  their 
former  hold  on  the  training  of  the  young.  The  churches, 
however,  were  not  interested  in  the  problem  except  in  the 
old  way,  and  this  was  not  what  the  new  democracy  wanted. 
The  result  was  that,  with  the  coming  of  nationality  and  the 
slow  but  gradual  growth  of  a  national  consciousness,  na- 
tional pride,  national  needs,  and  the  gradual  development 
of  national  resources  in  the  shape  of  taxable  property,  —  all 
alike  combined  to  make  secular  instead  of  religious  schools 
seem  both  desirable  and  possible  to  a  constantly  increasing 
number  of  citizens.  This  change  in  attitude  was  facilitated 
by  the  work  of  a  number  of  semi-private  philanthropic 
agencies,  the  most  important  of  which  were :  (1)  the  Sunday 
School  Movement;  (2)  the  growth  of  City  School  Societies; 
(3)  the  Lancastrian  Movement;  and  (4)  the  coming  of  the 
Inf ant-School  Societies.  These  will  be  described  briefly, 
and  their  influence  in  awakening  an  educational  conscious- 
ness pointed  out. 

1.  The  Sunday  School  Movement 
Secular  schools  before  the  religious.  One  of  the  earliest 
of  these  philanthropic  movements  designed  to  afford  a  mini- 
mum of  education  for  the  children  of  the  poor  was  the  so- 
called  Sunday  School  Movement.  This  originated  in  Eng- 
land shortly  after  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century, 
but  amounted  to  little  until  1780,  when  a  publisher  by  the 
name  of  Robert  Raikes,  of  Gloucester,  gathered  together 
the  children  in  the  pin  factories  of  that  city  and  paid  four 
women  a  shilling  each  to  spend  their  Sundays  in  instruct- 
ing these  poor  working  children  "  in  reading,  and  the  Church 
catechism."  In  1783  Raikes  published  a  description  of  the 
plan  and  its  results,  and  soon  the  idea  spread  to  many  parts 
of  England.    So  successful  did  the  pllan  prove  that  in  1785 


AWAKENING  AN  EDUCATIONAL  CONSCIOUSNESS    85 

there  was  organized  "The  Society  for  promoting  Sunday 
Schools  throughout  the  British  Dominions."  The  historian 
Green  has  declared  that  "the  Sunday  Schools  established 
by  Mr.  Raikes  were  the  beginnings  of  popular  education" 
in  England. 

Raikes's  idea  was  soon  brought  to  the  United  States.  In 
1786  a  Sunday  School  after  the  Raikes  plan  was  organized 
in  Hanover  County,  Virginia,  at  the  house  of  one  Thomas 
Crenghaw,  and  in  1787  a  Sunday  School  for  African  children 
was  organized  at  Charleston,  South  Carolina.  In  1791 
"The  First  Day,  or  Sunday  School  Society,"  was  organized 
at  Philadelphia,  for  the  establishment  of  Sunday  Schools 
in  that  city.  In  1793  Katy  Ferguson's  "School  for  the 
Poor  "  was  opened  in  New  York,  and  this  was  followed  by  an 
organization  of  New  York  women  for  the  extension  of  secu- 
lar instruction  among  the  poor.  In  1797  Samuel  Slater's 
Factory  School  was  opened  at  Pawtucket,  Rhode  Island. 
These  schools,  being  open  to  all  instead  of  only  to  the  poor 
and  lowly,  had  a  small  but  an  increasing  influence  in  level- 
ing class  distinctions,  and  in  making  a  common  day  school 
seem  possible.  The  movement  for  secular  instruction  on 
Sundays,  though,  soon  met  in  America  with  the  opposition 
of  the  churches,  and  before  long  they  took  over  the  idea, 
superseded  private  initiative  and  control,  and  changed  the 
character  of  the  instruction  from  a  day  of  secular  work  to 
an  hour  or  so  of  religious  teaching. 

Though  there  had  been  some  Sunday  instruction  earlier 
at  a  few  places  in  New  England,  the  introduction  of  the 
Sunday  School  from  England,  in  1786,  marks  the  real  be- 
ginning of  the  religious  Sunday  School  in  America.  After 
the  churches  had  once  caught  the  idea  of  a  common  reli- 
gious school  on  Sundays  for  the  instruction  of  any  one,  a 
number  of  societies  were  formed  to  carry  on  and  extend  the 
work.    The  most  important  of  the  earlier  foundations  were: 

1808.  The  Evangelical  Society  of  Philadelphia. 
1816.  The  Female  Union  for  the  Promotion  of  Sabbath  Schools 
(New  York). 


86  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

1816.  The  New  York  Sunday  School  Union. 

1816.  The  Boston  Society  for  the  Moral  and  Religious  Instruc- 

tion of  the  Poor. 

1817.  The  Philadelphia  Sunday  and  Adult  School  Union. 
1824.  The  American  Sunday  School  Union. 

2.  The  City  School  Societies 

Before  1825  a  number  of  subscription  societies,  many  of 
which  were  able  to  effect  financial  connections  with  the  city 
or  the  State,  were  formed  in  the  few  cities  of  the  time  to 
develop  schools  "for  the  education  of  such  poor  children  as 
do  not  belong  to,  or  are  not  provided  for  by  any  religious 
society."  These  societies  were  usually  organized  by  philan- 
thropic citizens,  willing  to  contribute  something  yearly  to 
provide  some  little  education  for  a  few  of  the  many  children 
in  the  city  having  no  opportunities  for  any  instruction. 

Early  New  York  City  societies.  One  of  the  first  of  these 
societies  was  "The  Manumission  Society,"  organized  in 
New  York  in  1785,  for  the  purpose  of  "mitigating  the  evils 
of  slavery,  to  defend  the  rights  of  the  blacks,  and  especially 
to  give  them  the  elements  of  an  education."  Alexander 
Hamilton  and  John  Jay  were  among  its  organizers.  A  free 
school  for  colored  pupils  was  opened,  in  1787.  This  grew 
and  prospered  and  was  aided  from  time  to  time  by  the  city, 
and  in  1801  by  the  State,  and  finally,  in  1834,  all  its  schools 
were  merged  with  those  of  the  "Public  School  Society"  of 
the  city.  In  1801  the  first  free  school  for  poor  white  children 
"whose  parents  belong  to  no  religious  society,  and  who* 
from  some  cause  or  other,  cannot  be  admitted  into  any  of 
the  charity  schools  of  the  city,"  was  opened.  This  was  pro- 
vided by  the  "Association  of  Women  Friends  for  the  Relief 
of  the  Poor,"  which  engaged  "a  widow  woman  of  good  edu- 
cation and  morals  as  instructor"  at  £30  per  year.  This  As- 
sociation also  prospered,  and  received  some  city  or  state  aid 
up  to  1824.  By  1823  it  was  providing  free  elementary  edu- 
cation for  750  children.  Its  schools  also  were  later  merged 
with  those  of  the  "Public  School  Society." 


AWAKENING  AN  EDUCATIONAL  CONSCIOUSNESS    87 

"  The  Public  School  Society."  Perhaps  the  most  famous 
of  all  the  early  subscription  societies  for  the  maintenance  of 
schools  for  the  poor  was  the  "New  York  Free  School  So- 
ciety,'* which  later  changed  its  name  to  that  of  "The  Public 
School  Society  of  New  York."  This  was  organized  in  1805 
under  the  leadership  of  De  Witt  Clinton,  then  mayor  of  the 
city,  he  heading  the  subscription  list  with  a  promise  of 
$200  a  year  for  support.  On  May  14,  1806,  the  following 
advertisement  appeared  in  the  daily  papers: 


FREE  SCHOOL 

The  Trustees  of  the  Society  for  establishing  a  Free  School  in  the 
city  of  New  York,  for  the  education  of  such  poor  children  as  do  not 
belong  to,  or  are  not  provided  for  by  any  religious  Society,  having 
engaged  a  Teacher,  and  procured  a  School  House  for  the  accommo- 
dation of  a  School,  have  now  the  pleasure  of  announcing  that  it  is 
proposed  to  receive  scholars  of  the  descriptions  alluded  to  without 
delay;  applications  may  be  made  to,  &c. 

This  Society  was  chartered  by  the  legislature  "to  provide 
schooling  for  all  children  who  are  the  proper  objects  of  a 


Flo.  18.  The  First  Schoolhouse  built  by  the  Free  School  Society 
in  New  York  City 

Built  in  1809,  in  Tryon  Row.    Cost,  without  site,  $13,000. 


88  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

gratuitous  education."  It  organized  free  public  education 
in  the  city,  secured  funds,  built  schoolhouses,  provided  and 
trained  teachers,  and  ably  supplemented  the  work  of  the 
private  and  church  schools.  By  its  energy  and  its  persist- 
ence it  secured  for  itself  a  large  share  of  public  confidence, 
and  aroused  a  constantly  increasing  interest  in  the  cause  of 
popular  education.  In  1853,  after  it  had  educated  over 
600,000  children  and  trained  over  1200  teachers,  this  Society, 
its  work  done,  surrendered  its  charter  and  turned  over  its 
buildings  and  equipment  to  the  public  school  department 
of  the  city,  which  had  been  created  by  the  legislature  in 
1842. 

School  Societies  elsewhere.  The  "Benevolent  Society, 
of  the  City  of  Baltimore  for  the  Education  of  the  Female 
Poor,"  founded  in  1799,  and  the  "Male  Free  Society  of 
Baltimore,"  organized  a  little  later,  were  two  of  these  early 
school  societies,  though  neither  became  so  famous  as  the 
Public  School  Society  of  New  York.  From  the  Annual 
Report  of  the  Baltimore  Male  Free  Society,  for  1822,  we  read: 

It  is  truly  gratifying  to  the  Trustees  to  witness  the  increasing 
interest  taken  in  the  education  of  the  poor,  —  to  see  the  talents, 
the  zeal,  and  the  means  now  employed  to  give  instruction  to  indi- 
gent youth.  ...  To  the  liberality  of  the  citizens  of  Baltimore,  they 
(the  poor  boys)  are  indebted  for  the  ample  means  of  instruction 
which  they  now  enjoy. 

The  schools  of  the  city  of  Washington  were  started  by 
subscription,  in  1804,  and  for  some  time  were  in  part  sup- 
ported by  subscriptions  from  public-spirited  citizens. 
Thomas  Jefferson's  name  appears  in  the  first  subscription 
list  as  giving  $200,  and  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the  first 
governing  board.  This  was  composed  of  seven  citizens  ap- 
pointed by  the  city  council,  and  six  elected  from  among  the 
subscribers.  The  chief  sources  of  support  of  the  schools, 
which  up  to  1844  remained  pauper  schools,  were  subscrip- 
tions lotteries,  a  tax  on  slaves  and  dogs,  certain  license  fees, 
and  a  small  appropriation  ($1500)  each  year  from  the  city 
council.    This  society  did  an  important  work  in  accustoming 


AWAKENING  AN  EDUCATIONAL  CONSCIOUSNESS    89 

the  people  of  the  capital  city  to  the  provision  of  some  form 
of  free  education. 

In  1800  "The  Philadelphia  Society  for  the  Free  Instruc- 
tion of  Indigent  Boys"  was  formed,  which  a  little  later 
changed  to  "The  Philadelphia  Society  for  the  Establishment 
and  Support  of  Charity  Schools."  This  organization  opened 
the  first  schools  in  Philadelphia  for  children  regardless  of 
religious  affiliation,  and  for  thirty-seven  years  rendered  a 
useful  service  there.  In  1814  "The  Society  for  the  Promo- 
tion of  a  Rational  System  of  Education "  was  organized  in 
Philadelphia,  and  four  years  later  the  public  sentiment 
awakened  by  a  combination  of  the  work  of  this  Society  and 
the  coming  of  the  Lancastrian  system  of  instruction  enabled 
the  city  to  secure  a  special  law  permitting  Philadelphia  to 
organize  a  system  of  city  schools  for  the  education  of  the 
children  of  its  poor.  Other  educational  societies  which 
rendered  useful  service  include  the  "Mechanics  and  Manu- 
facturers Association,"  of  Providence,  Rhode  Island,  or- 
ganized in  1789;  "The  Albany  Lancastrian  School  Society," 
organized  in  1826,  for  the  education  of  the  poor  of  the  city 
in  monitorial  schools;  and  the  school  societies  organized  in 
Savannah,  in  1818,  and  Augusta,  in  1821,  "to  afford  edu- 
cation to  the  children  of  indigent  parents."  Both  these 
Georgia  societies  received  some  support  from  state  funds. 

Another  type  of  free  school,  of  which  a  number  came  to 
exist,  resulted  through  establishments  by  will.  Of  these  the 
gift  of  John  Kidd,  a  wealthy  baker  of  Cincinnati,  who  died 
in  1818  and  bequeathed  $1000  per  year  "for  the  education  of 
poor  children  and  youths  of  Cincinnati,"  is  an  example.  An- 
other bequest  was  made  to  the  same  city  and  for  the  same 
purpose,  in  1824,  by  a  citizen  named  Thomas  Hughes. 

The  formation  of  these  school  societies,  the  subscriptions 
made  by  the  leading  men  of  the  cities,  the  bequests  for  edu- 
cation, and  the  grants  of  some  city  and  state  aid  to  these 
societies,  all  of  which  in  time  became  somewhat  common, 
indicate  a  slowly  rising  interest  in  providing  schools  for  the 
education  of  all.     This  rising  interest  in  education  was 


90  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

greatly  stimulated  by  the  introduction  from  England  of  a 
new  and  what  for  the  time  seemed  a  wonderful  system  for 
the  organization  of  education,  which  we  next  describe. 

8.  The  Lancastrian  monitorial  system  of  instruction 
Origin  of  the  idea.  In  1797  Dr.  Andrew  Bell  published  in 
England  an  account  of  an  experiment  in  education  by  means 
of  monitors,  which  he  had  made  some  years  earlier  in  an 
orphan  asylum  in  Madras,  India.  About  the  same  time  a 
young  English  schoolmaster,  by  the  name  of  Joseph  Lan- 
caster, was  led  independently  to  a  similar  discovery  of  the 
advantages  of  using  monitors  by  reason  of  his  needing  assist- 
ance in  his  school  and  being  too  poor  to  pay  for  additional 
teachers.  The  idea  attracted  attention  from  the  first,  and 
was  spread  rapidly  over  England,  in  part  by  reason  of  a 
bitter  church  quarrel  between  the  followers  of  the  two  men 
as  to  which  was  entitled  to  credit  for  originating  the  system. 
The  plans  of  the  two  men  were  much  the  same.  Bell's 
system  was  taken  up  and  his  claims  supported  by  the  Church- 
of-England  educational  organizations,  while  Lancaster's 
was  supported  by  the  Dissenters.  It  was  the  Lancastrian 
plan  which  was  brought  to  this  country,  Church-of -England 
ideas  not  being  in  much  favor  after  the  Revolution.  The 
plan  was  so  cheap,  and  so  effective  in  teaching  reading  and 
the  fundamentals  of  religion,  that  it  soon  provided  England 
with  a  sort  of  a  substitute  for  a  national  system  of  schools. 
Once  introduced  into  the  United  States,  where  the  first 
school  was  opened  in  New  York  City,  in  1806,  the  system 
quickly  spread  from  Massachusetts  to  Georgia,  and  as  far 
west  as  Cincinnati,  Louisville,  and  Detroit.  In  1826  Mary- 
land instituted  a  state  system  of  Lancastrian  schools,  with 
a  Superintendent  of  Public  Instruction,  but  in  1828  aban- 
doned the  idea  and  discontinued  the  office.  A  state  Lan- 
castrian system  for  North  Carolina  was  proposed  in  1832, 
but  failed  of  adoption  by  the  legislature.  In  1829  Mexico 
organized  higher  Lancastrian  schools  for  the  Mexican  State 
of  Texas.    In  1818  Lancaster  himself  came  to  America,  and 


92 


EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 


was  received  with  much  distinction.  Most  of  the  remaining 
twenty  years  of  his  life  were  spent  in  organizing  and  direct- 
ing schools  in  various  parts  of  the  United  States,  and  in  ex- 
pounding the  merits  of  his  system. 

Essential  features  of  the  plan.  The  essential  features  of 
the  Lancastrian  plan  were  the  collection  of  a  large  number 
of  pupils  in  one  room,  from  200  to  1000  being  possible.  The 
picture  on  page  91  shows  a  monitorial  school  seating  365. 
The  pupils  were  sorted  and  seated  in  rows,  and  to  each 


Fig.  20.  Monitors  teaching  Reading 

Three  draughts  of  ten  each,  with  their  toes  to  the  semicircles  painted  on  the  floor,  are  being 
taught  by  monitors  from  lessons  suspended  on  the  wall. 

row  was  assigned  a  clever  boy  who  was  known  as  a  monitor. 
A  common  number  for  each  monitor  to  instruct  and  look 
after  was  ten.  The  teacher  first  taught  these  monitors  a 
lesson  from  a  printed  card,  and  then  each  monitor  took 
his  row  to  a  "station"  about  the  wall  and  proceeded  to 
teach  the  other  boys  what  he  had  just  learned. 

At  first  used  only  for  teaching  reading  and  the  catechism, 
the  plan  was  soon  extended  to  the  teaching  of  writing, 
simple  sums,  and  spelling,  and  later  to  instruction  in  the 
higher  branches.  A  number  of  monitorial  high  schools  were 
organized  in  different  cities  of  the  United  States,  and  it 
was  even  proposed  that  the  plan  should  be  adopted  in  the 
colleges.  The  system  was  very  popular  from  about  1810 
to  1830,  but  by  1840  its  popularity  had  waned.  In  many  of 
the  now  rapidly  rising  cities  the  first  free  schools  established 


AWAKENING  AN  EDUCATIONAL  CONSCIOUSNESS    93 

were  Lancastrian  schools.  The  first  free  schools  in  Phila- 
delphia (1818)  were  an  outgrowth  of  Lancastrian  influence, 
as  was  also  the  case  in  many  other  Pennsylvania  cities,  — 
Lancaster,  Columbia,  Harrisburg,  Pittsburg,  Milton,  Erie, 
New  Castle,  and  Greencastle  being  among  the  number. 
Baltimore  began  a  Lancastrian  school  six  years  before  the 
organization  of  public  schools  was  permitted  there  by  law. 

Such  schools  were  naturally  highly  organized,  the  organi- 
zation being  largely  mechanical.     The  Manuals  of  Instruc- 


Fig.  21.  Monitor  inspecting  Written  Work  at  Signal,  "Show 
Slates" 

tion  gave  complete  directions  for  the  organization  and  man- 
agement of  monitorial  schools,  the  details  of  recitation  work, 
use  of  the  apparatus,  order,  and  classification  being  minutely 
laid  down.  By  carefully  studying  and  following  these  any 
person  could  soon  learn  to  become  a  successful  teacher  in 
a  monitorial  school.  The  schools,  mechanical  as  they  now 
seem,  were  a  great  improvement  over  the  individual  method 
upon  which  colonial  schoolmasters  had  wasted  so  much  of 
their  own  and  their  pupils'  time.  In  place  of  their  idleness, 
inattention,  and  disorder,  Lancaster  introduced  activity, 
emulation,  order,  and  a  kind  of  military  discipline  which  was 
of  much  value  to  the  type  of  children  attending  these  schools. 
Lancaster's  biographer,  Salmon,  has  written  of  the  system 
that  so  thoroughly  was  the  instruction  worked  out  that  the 


94  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

teacher  had  only  to  organize,  oversee,  rewardy  punish,  and 
inspire: 

When  a  child  was  admitted  a  monitor  assigned  him  his  class; 
while  he  remained,  a  monitor  taught  him  (with  nine  other  pupils) ; 
when  he  was  absent,  one  monitor  ascertained  the  fact,  and  another 
found  out  the  reason;  a  monitor  examined  him  periodically,  and, 
when  he  made  progress,  a  monitor  promoted  him;  a  monitor  ruled 
the  writing  paper;  a  monitor  had  charge  of  slates  and  books;  and 
a  monitor-general  looked  after  all  the  other  monitors.  Every 
monitor  wore  a  leather  ticket,  gilded  and  lettered,  "Monitor  of 
the  First  Class,"  "Reading  Monitor  of  the  Second  Class,"  etc. 

Value  of  the  system  in  awakening  interest.  The  Lan- 
castrian system  of  instruction,  coming  at  the  time  it  did, 
exerted  a  very  important  influence  in  awakening  a  public 
interest  in  and  a  sentiment  for  free  schools.  It  did  much 
toward  making  people  see  the  advantages  of  a  common  school 
system,  and  become  willing  to  contribute  to  the  support 
of  the  same.  Under  the  plans  previously  in  use  education 
had  been  a  slow  and  an  expensive  process,  because  it  had 
to  be  carried  on  by  the  individual  method  of  instruction, 
and  in  quite  small  groups.  Under  this  new  plan  it  was  now 
possible  for  one  teacher  to  instruct  300,  400,  500,  or  more 
pupils  in  a  single  room,  and  to  do  it  with  much  better  results 
in  both  learning  and  discipline  than  the  old  type  of  school- 
master had  achieved.  It  is  not  strange  that  the  new  plan 
aroused  widespread  enthusiasm  in  many  discerning  men, 
and  for  almost  a  quarter  of  a  century  was  advocated  as  the 
best  system  of  education  then  known.  Two  quotations 
will  illustrate  what  leading  men  of  the  time  thought  of  it. 
De  Witt  Clinton,  for  twenty-one  years  president  of  the  New 
York  "Free  School  Society,"  and  later  governor  of  the 
State,  wrote,  in  1809 : 

When  I  perceive  that  many  boys  in  our  school  have  been  taught 
to  read  and  write  in  two  months,  who  did  not  before  know  the 
alphabet,  and  that  even  one  has  accomplished  it  in  three  weeks  — 
when  I  view  all  the  bearings  and  tendencies  of  this  system  —  when 
I  contemplate  the  habits  of  order  which  it  forms,  the  spirit  of 


JOSEPH  LAW   18T1  B 

(177X 


AWAKENING  AN  EDUCATIONAL  CONSCIOUSNESS    95 

emulation  which  it  excites,  the  rapid  improvement  which  it  pro- 
duces, the  purity  of  morals  which  it  inculcates  —  when  I  behold 
the  extraordinary  union  of  celerity  in  instruction  and  economy  of 
expense  —  and  when  I  perceive  one  great  assembly  of  a  thousand 
children,  under  the  eye  of  a  single  teacher,  marching  with  unex- 
ampled rapidity  and  with  perfect  discipline  to  the  goal  of  knowl- 
edge, I  confess  that  I  recognize  in  Lancaster  the  benefactor  of  the 
human  race.  I  consider  his  system  as  creating  a  new  era  in  educa- 
tion, as  a  blessing  sent  down  from  heaven  to  redeem  the  poor  and 
distressed  of  this  world  from  the  power  and  dominion  of  ignorance. 

In  a  message  to  the  legislature  of  Connecticut,  a  State 
then  fairly  well  supplied  with  schools  of  the  Massachusetts 
district  type,  Governor  Wolcott  said,  in  1825: 

If  funds  can  be  obtained  to  defray  the  expenses  of  the  necessary 
preparations,  I  have  no  doubt  that  schools  on  the  Lancastrian 
model  ought,  as  soon  as  possible,  to  be  established  in  several  parts 
of  this  state.  Wherever  from  200  to  1000  children  can  be  con- 
vened within  a  suitable  distance,  this  mode  of  instruction  in  every 
branch  of  reading,  speaking,  penmanship,  arithmetic,  and  book- 
keeping, will  be  found  much  more  efficient,  direct,  and  economical 
than  the  practices  now  generally  pursued  in  our  primary  schools. 

Value  in  preparing  the  way  for  taxation  for  education. 
One  of  the  main  difficulties  up  to  this  time  had  been  the  cost 
of  education  among  people  who  were  relatively  poor,  and 
unwilling  to  spend  money  for  anything  for  which  they  did 
not  clearly  see  the  need.  The  private  tutor  as  a  means  for 
education  was  out  of  the  question  for  any  except  the  well- 
to-do.  The  churches  had  their  hands  more  than  full  in  sup- 
porting schools,  largely  by  tuition  fees,  for  the  children  of 
those  of  their  members  able  to  contribute  something  toward 
their  education,  with  a  few  free  places  for  their  deserving 
poor.  So  long  as  the  time-honored  individual  method  of  in- 
st  ruction,  with  its  accompanying  waste  of  time  and  disor- 
der, continued  to  be  the  prevailing  method,  only  a  small 
number  of  pupils  could  be  placed  under  the  control  of  a 
single  teacher.  The  expense  for  this  made  general  education 
almost  prohibitive. 


96  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

All  at  once,  comparatively,  a  new  system  had  been  intro- 
duced which  not  only  improved  but  tremendously  cheap- 
ened education.  In  1822  it  cost  but  $1.22  per  pupil  per 
year  to  give  instruction  in  New  York  City,  though  by  1844 
the  per-capita  cost,  due  largely  to  the  decreasing  size  of  the 
classes,  had  risen  to  $2.70,  and  by  1852  to  $5.83.  In  Phila- 
delphia, in  1817,  the  expense  was  $3,  as  against  $12  in  the 
private  and  church  schools.  One  finds  many  notices  in  the 
newspapers  of  the  time  as  to  the  value  and  low  cost  of 
the  new  system.  The  following  note,  from  The  Recorder 
of  Boston,  for  August  21,  1816,  is  typical: 

A  school  on  the  Lancastrian  plan  has  been  recently  established 
in  Chillicothe,  Ohio.  The  progress  of  the  children  is  much  more 
rapid  than  in  the  common  schools;  their  exercises  highly  conducive 
to  health;  their  lessons  calculated  to  promote  the  purest  morality; 
their  books  furnished;  and  the  expenses  no  more  than  $2.50  by  the 
quarter. 

These  sums  are  very  low  compared  with  present-day  costs, 
or  costs  of  even  a  decade  ago. 

The  Lancastrian  schools  materially  hastened  the  adoption 
of  the  free  school  system  in  all  the  Northern  States  by  grad- 
ually accustoming  people  to  bearing  the  necessary  taxa- 
tion which  free  schools  entail.  They  also  made  the  com- 
mon school  common  and  much  talked  of,  and  awakened 
thought  and  provoked  discussion  on  the  question  of  public 
education.  They  likewise  dignified  the  work  of  the  teacher 
by  showing  the  necessity  for  teacher  training.  The  Lan- 
castrian Model  Schools,  first  established  in  1818,  were  the 
precursors  of  our  normal  schools. 

Jf.  The  Infant-School  Societies 
Origin  of  the  Infant-School  idea.  A  curious  condition 
in  this  country  was  that  in  some  of  the  cities  where  public 
schools  had  been  established,  by  one  agency  or  another,  no 
provision  had  been  made  for  beginners.  These  were  sup- 
posed to  obtain  the  elements  of  reading  at  home,  or  in 
the  dame  schools.    In  Boston,  for  example,  where  public 


AWAKENING  AN  EDUCATIONAL  CONSCIOUSNESS    07 

schools  were  maintained  by  the  city,  no  children  could  be 
received  into  the  schools  who  had  not  learned  to  read  and 
write.  This  made  the  common  age  of  admission  somewhere 
near  eight  years.  The  same  was  in  part  true  of  Hartford, 
New  York,  Philadelphia,  Baltimore,  and  other  cities.  When 
the  monitorial  schools  were  established  they  tended  to  re- 
strict their  membership  in  a  similar  manner,  though  not 
always  able  to  do  so. 

In  1816  there  came  to  this  country,  also  from  England,  a 
valuable  supplement  to  education  as  then  known  in  the 
form  of  the  so-called  Infant-School  idea.  It  had  originated 
at  New  Lanark,  in  Scotland,  in  1799,  where  a  manufacturer 
by  the  name  of  Robert  Owen  had  established  a  school  for 
the  children  in  his  town  and  factories.  The  factory  children 
were  poor  children  of  the  town  who  had  been  bound  out 
to  him  at  five,  six,  and  seven  years  of  age,  for  a  period  of 
nine  years.  They  worked  as  apprentices  and  helpers  twelve 
to  thirteen  hours  a  day  in  the  factories,  and  at  early  man- 
hood were  turned  free  to  join  the  ignorant  mass  of  the  popu- 
lation. Owen  sought  to  remedy  this  situation  by  opening  a 
school  which  took  the  children  at  three  years  of  age,  and  by 
amusements  and  instruction  tried  to  give  them  moral,  phy- 
sical, and  intellectual  training.  The  idea,  in  the  hands  of 
his  teachers,  worked  well;  but  in  the  hands  of  others  else- 
where it  was  soon  formalized,  and  book  learning  was  made 
a  prominent  feature  of  the  Infant  Schools. 

Infant  Schools  in  the  Eastern  cities.  In  this  formalized 
state  the  idea  reached  Boston,  in  1816,  and  for  the  next 
two  years  an  agitation  was  carried  on  for  the  establishment 
of  Infant  or  Primary  Schools.  In  1818  the  city  appropri- 
ated $5000  for  the  purpose  of  organizing  such  schools  to 
supplement  the  public  school  system,  and  appointed  a  sup- 
plemental school  committee  of  three  citizens  in  each  of  the 
then  twelve  wards  to  organize  and  direct  the  so-called  pri- 
mary schools.  These  schools  were  to  admit  children  at  four 
years  of  age,  were  to  be  taught  by  women,  were  to  be  open 
all  the  year  round,  and  were  to  prepare  the  children  for 


98 


EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 


admission  to  the  city  schools,  which  by  that  time  had  come 
to  be  known  as  English  grammar  schools.  Separate  schools 
were  established,  separate  school  buildings  were  erected, 
and  a  new  set  of  teachers  was  employed.  The  manage- 
ment of  the  primary  schools  remained  separate  from  that 
of  the  grammar  schools  until  1854,  when  the  two  were  com- 
bined under  one  city  School  Committee.  Providence,  simi- 
larly, established  primary  schools  in  1828  for  children  be- 
tween the  ages  of  four 
and  eight,  to  supple- 
ment the  work  of  the 
public  schools,  there 
called  writing  schools. 
For  New  England  the 
establishment  of  pri- 
mary schools  virtually 
took  over  the  dame 
school  instruction  as  a 
public  function,  and  add- 
ed the  primary  grades 
to  the  previously  exist- 
ing school.  We  have  here 
the  origin  of  the  divi- 
sion, often  still  retained 
at  least  in  name  in  the 
Eastern  States,  of  the 
"primary  grades"  and 
the  "grammar  grades" 


Fig.  22.  "Model"  School  Building  of 
the  Public  School  Society 


Erected  in  1843.  Cost  (with  site),  $17,000.  A  typi- 
cal New  York  school  building,  after  1830.  The  In- 
fant or  Primary  school  was  on  the  first  floor,  the 
second  floor  contained  the  girls'  school,  and  the  third 
floor  the  boys'  school.  Each  floor  had  one  large  room 
seating  252  children;  the  primary  schoolroom  could  be 
divided  into  two  rooms  by  folding  doors,  so  as  to 
segregate  the  infant  class.    This  building  was  for  long 

regarded  as  the  perfection  of  the  builder's  art,  and    01  OUT  elementary  SCHOOL 
its  picture  was  printed  for  years  on  the  cover  of  the 
Society's  Annual  Reports. 


An  "  Inf  ant-School  So- 
ciety "  was  organized  in 
New  York  in  1827.  The  first  Infant  School  was  established 
under  the  direction  of  the  Public  School  Society  as  the 
"  Junior  Department "  of  School  No.  8,  with  a  woman  teacher 
in  charge,  and  using  monitorial  methods.  A  second  school 
was  established  the  next  year.  In  1830  the  name  was 
changed  from  Infant  School  to  Primary  Department,  and 


AWAKENING  AN  EDUCATIONAL  CONSCIOUSNESS    99 

where  possible  these  departments  were  combined  with  the 
existing  schools.  In  1832  it  was  decided  to  organize  ten 
primary  schools,  under  women  teachers,  for  children  from 
four  to  ten  years  of  age,  and  after  the  Boston  plan  of  in- 
struction. This  abandoned  the  monitorial  plan  of  instruc- 
tion for  the  new  Pestalozzian  form,  described  in  Chapter  IX, 
which  was  deemed  better  suited  to  the  needs  of  the  smaller 


1700 


1800 


1830 


1860 


1890 


Fig.  23.  Evolution  of  the  Essential  Features  op  the  American 
Public  School  System 


children.  By  1844  fifty-six  Primary  Departments  had  been 
organized  in  connection  with  the  upper  schools  of  the  city. 

In  Philadelphia  there  were  three  Infant-School  Societies 
founded  in  1827-28,  and  such  schools  were  at  once  estab- 
lished there.  By  1830  the  directors  of  the  school  system  had 
been  permitted  by  the  legislature  of  the  State  to  expend  pub- 
lic money  for  such  schools,  and  thirty  such,  under  women 
teachers,  were  in  operation  in  the  city  by  1837. 

Primary  education  organized.  The  Inf ant-School  idea 
was  soon  somewhat  generally  adopted  by  the  Eastern  cities, 
and  changed  somewhat  to  make  of  it  an  American  primary 
school.  Where  children  had  not  been  previously  admitted 
to  the  schools  without  knowing  how  to  read,  as  in  Boston, 


100  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

they  supplemented  the  work  of  the  public  schools  by  add- 
ing a  new  school  beneath.  Where  the  reverse  had  been  the 
case,  as  in  New  York  City,  the  organization  of  Infant 
Schools  as  Junior  Departments  enabled  the  existing  schools 
to  advance  their  work.  Everywhere  it  resulted,  eventually, 
in  the  organization  of  primary  and  grammar  school  depart- 
ments, often  with  intermediate  departments  in  between, 
and,  with  the  somewhat  contemporaneous  evolution  of  the 
first  high  schools,  the  main  outlines  of  the  American  free 
public  school  system  were  now  complete. 

Unlike  the  monitorial  schools,  the  infant  schools  were 
based  on  the  idea  of  small-group  work,  and  were  usually 
conducted  in  harmony  with  the  new  psychological  con- 
ceptions of  instruction  which  had  by  that  time  been  worked 
out  by  Pestalozzi  in  Switzerland,  and  introduced  into  the 
Infant  Schools  of  England.  The  Infant-School  idea  came 
at  an  opportune  time,  as  the  defects  of  the  mechanical  Lan- 
castrian instruction  were  becoming  evident  and  its  popular- 
ity was  waning.  It  gave  a  new  and  a  somewhat  deeper  phil- 
osophical interpretation  of  the  educational  process,  created 
a  stronger  demand  than  had  before  been  known  for  trained 
teachers,  established  a  preference  for  women  teachers  for 
primary  work,  and  tended  to  give  a  new  dignity  to  teaching 
and  school  work  by  revealing  something  of  a  psychologi- 
cal basis  for  the  instruction  of  little  children.  It  also  con- 
tributed its  share  toward  the  awakening  of  a  sentiment  for 
intelligently  directed  public  education. 

These  four  important  educational  movements  —  the 
secular  Sunday  School,  the  semi-public  city  School  Socie- 
ties, the  Lancastrian  plan  for  instruction,  and  the  Infant- 
School  idea  —  all  arising  in  philanthropy,  came  as  successive 
educational  ideas  to  America  during  the  first  half  of  the 
nineteenth  century,  supplemented  one  another,  and  together 
accustomed  a  new  generation  to  the  idea  of  a  common  school 
for  all. 


AWAKENING  AN  EDUCATIONAL  CONSCfetJSSlfcSS    10i 

II.  Social,  Political,  and  Economic  Influences  - 
It  is  hardly  probable,  however,  that  these  philanthropic 
efforts  alone,  valuable  as  they  were,  could  have  resulted  in 
the  great  battle  for  tax-supported  schools,  at  as  early  a  date 
as  this  took  place,  had  they  not  been  supplemented  by  a 
number  of  other  movements  of  a  social,  political,  and  eco- 
nomic character  which  in  themselves  materially  changed  the 
nature  and  direction  of  our  national  life.  The  more  im- 
portant of  these  will  be  described  briefly. 

1.  The  growth  of  the  cities 

Growth  of  city  population.  At  the  time  of  the  inaugura- 
tion of  our  national  government  nearly  every  one  lived  on 
the  farm  or  in  some  little  village.  The  first  forty  years  of 
our  national  life  were  essentially  an  agricultural  and  a  pio- 
neer period.  Even  as  late  as  1820  there  were  but  thirteen 
cities  of  8000  inhabitants  or  over  in  the  whole  of  the  twenty- 
three  States  at  that  time  comprising  the  Union,  and  these 
thirteen  cities  contained  but  4.9  per  cent  of  the  total  popu- 
lation of  the  Nation.  Under  such  conditions  education  was 
largely  a  rural  affair  and,  except  in  the  more  settled  portions 
of  the  country,  was  almost  certain  to  be  generally  neglected 
for  the  more  important  duties  of  cutting  down  the  forests, 
draining  the  swamps,  establishing  farms  and  homes,  and 
providing  food  and  shelter  for  family  and  stock.  Every 
child  was  then  an  asset,  and  was  put  to  work  at  as  early  an 
age  as  possible.  Few  could  be  spared  to  go  to  school.  It  was 
a  time  of  hard  work,  with  few  comforts  and  pleasures,  and 
with  but  little  need  for  the  school  of  books. 

After  about  1825  these  conditions  began  to  change.  By 
1 820  many  little  villages  were  springing  up,  and  these  fre- 
quently proved  the  nuclei  for  future  cities.  In  New  Eng- 
land many  of  these  places  were  in  the  vicinity  of  some  water- 
fall, where  cheap  power  made  manufacturing  on  a  large 
scale  possible.  Lowell,  Massachusetts,  which  in  1820  did 
not  exist  and  in  1840  had  a  population  of  over  twenty  thou- 


102 


.EpFrCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 


,sarwj  .people,  collected  there  largely  to  work  in  the  mills,  is 
a  good  illustration.  Other  cities,  such  as  Cincinnati  and 
Detroit,  grew  because  of  their  advantageous  situation  as 
exchange  and  wholesale  centers.  With  the  revival  of  trade 
and  commerce  after  the  second  war  with  Great  Britain  the 
cities  grew  rapidly  both  in  number  and  size,  as  may  be  seen 
from  the  following  table. 


GROWTH  OF  CITY  POPULATION, 

1790-1860 

Number  of  cities  having  a  population  of 

Percentage  of 

Year 

total  popula- 

8000 
or  over 

8000  to 
20,000 

20,000  to 
75,000 

75,000  to 
250,000 

250,000 
or  over 

tion  in  citiet 

1780 

5 

4 

1 

2.7 

1790 

6 

4 

2 

3.3 

1800 

6 

1 

5 

4.0 

1810 

11 

6 

3 

2 

4.9 

1820 

13 

7 

4 

2 

4.9 

1830 

26 

19 

4 

3 

6.7 

1840 

44 

28 

11 

4 

1 

8.5 

1850 

85 

56 

21 

6 

2 

12.5 

1860 

141 

96 

35 

7 

3 

16.1 

The  rise  of  the  new  cities  and  the  rapid  growth  of  the 
older  ones  materially  changed  the  nature  of  the  educational 
problem,  by  producing  an  entirely  new  set  of  social  and  edu- 
cational conditions  for  the  people  of  the  Central  and  North- 
ern States  to  solve.  The  South,  with  its  plantation  life, 
negro  slavery,  and  absence  of  manufacturing  was  largely 
unaffected  by  these  changed  conditions  until  well  after  the 
close  of  the  Civil  War.  In  consequence  the  educational 
awakening  there  did  not  come  for  nearly  half  a  century  after 
it  came  in  the  North. 

2.  The  rise  of  manufacturing 
The  beginnings  in  our  country.     During  the  colonial 
period  manufacturing  was  still  in  the  home  or  village  stage 
of  development.    Almost  all  articles  of  use  and  wear  were 


AWAKENING  AN  EDUCATIONAL  CONSCIOUSNESS    103 

made  by  the  family  in  the  home.  Wagons  and  furniture  were 
made  in  the  villages,  and  the  traveling  shoemaker  came 
around  from  time  to  time  to  make  up  shoes  for  all  the  fam- 
ily. In  1787  the  first  American  factory  is  said  to  have  been 
started,  at  Beverly,  Massachusetts.  In  1791  the  first  cotton 
spinning-mill  was  set  up  on  the  falls  of  the  Pawtucket  River, 
in  Rhode  Island,  and  the  beginnings  of  New  England's  su- 
premacy in  the  cotton-spinning  industry  were  made.  By 
1804  there  were  four  cotton-mills  in  operation,  and  by  1807, 
fifteen. 

Up  to  1807,  though,  the  development  of  our  country  was 
almost  wholly  agricultural.  This  had  meant  a  scattered  and 
an  isolated  population,  with  few  common  ideas,  common 
interests,  or  common  needs.  Nearly  all  the  manufactured 
articles  not  made  in  the  homes  or  the  villages  were  made  in 
Great  Britain.  The  Embargo  of  1807,  laid  by  Congress  on 
American  shipping,  cut  off  articles  of  English  manufacture 
and  soon  led  to  the  rise  of  many  " infant  industries."  Many 
of  the  legislative  acts  of  the  next  five  years  had  to  do  with  the 
granting  of  charters  and  privileges  to  various  kinds  of  manu- 
factories. The  War  of  1812,  the  troubles  with  Napoleon, 
and  the  general  westward  movement  of  the  population,  all 
tended  for  a  time  to  build  up  manufacturing  faster  than 
agriculture.  At  the  end  of  the  struggle  with  Napoleon 
(1815)  this  country,  due  to  the  lack  of  any  adequate  pro- 
tective tariff,  was  for  a  time  flooded  with  manufactured 
articles  from  Europe.  As  a  result,  the  "infant  industries" 
were  paralyzed,  and  an  era  of  hard  times  set  in  which  con- 
tinued to  about  1820.  This  condition  was  in  time  corrected 
by  the  protective  tariff,  and  following  its  enactment  a  great 
industrial  development  took  place. 

The  industrial  transformation.  The  three  decades  from 
1820  to  1850  were  characterized  by  a  rapid  development  of 
manufacturing  and  a  rapid  growth  of  cities,  in  which  most 
of  the  new  manufacturing  plants  were  established.  The 
introduction  of  the  steamboat  (1809)  and  the  steam  rail- 
road (1826),  together  with  the  digging  of  many  canals  (the 


104  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

famous  Erie  Canal  was  opened  in  1825),  opened  up  the  pos- 
sibility of  doing  business  on  a  scale  before  unthought  of,  and 
led  to  a  great  demand  for  manufactured  articles  and  labor- 
saving  machinery  of  every  sort.  The  first  steam  railroad, 
three  miles  long,  was  built  in  1826,  and  by  1850,  9021  miles 
had  been  constructed  in  the  United  States.  One  could  now 
travel  by  rail  from  Maine  to  North  Carolina,  to  Buffalo  on 
Lake  Erie,  and  from  the  western  end  of  Lake  Erie  to  Cin- 
cinnati or  Chicago.  By  1860  steam  railways  had  been  built 
westward  into  Iowa,  Missouri,  and  Arkansas,  and  thirty 
thousand  miles  of  rails  were  carrying  agricultural  products 
from  the  interior  and  manufactured  products  from  the  sea- 
board cities  back  to  the  interior.  The  invention  of  the  tele- 
graph (first  line,  1844)  also  tremendously  increased  the 
possibilities  of  doing  business  on  a  large  scale. 

The  inventive  genius  of  our  people  was  now  called  into 
play,  and  Yankee  ingenuity  manifested  itself  in  every  direc- 
tion. After  1825  the  threshing  machine  began  to  supplant 
the  flail  and  the  roller;  after  1826  edge  tools  began  to  be 
made  in  this  country;  and  shortly  after  this  time  the  Fair- 
banks platform  scale,  the  mower,  the  reaper,  and  the  lock- 
stitch sewing  machine  were  invented.  Kerosene  lamps  were 
devised,  improved  cook-stoves  were  put  on  the  market,  and 
the  friction  match  superseded  the  flint.  The  coal  measures 
west  of  the  Alleghenies  were  opened,  and  anthracite  in  the 
East  was  put  to  use.  The  great  work  of  steam  had  begun, 
the  chimneys  of  factories  were  rising  over  the  land,  and  the 
steam  engine  was  applied  to  both  boat  and  train,  to  running 
the  power  loom  and  the  printing-press,  and  to  the  steam 
hammer  for  working  iron  and  steel.  Between  1820  and  1850 
industrial  methods  in  America  were  revolutionized. 

How  manufacturing  changed  the  position  of  the  city.  In 
the  cities  in  the  coast  States  north  of  Maryland,  but  particu- 
larly in  those  of  New  York  and  New  England,  manufactur- 
ing developed  very  rapidly.  Cotton-spinning  in  particular 
became  a  New  England  industry,  as  did  also  the  weaving  of 
wool,  while  Pennsylvania  became  the  center  of  the  iron 


Si 


11 


I! 


£      B 


106  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

manufacturing  industries.  The  cotton-spinning  industry- 
illustrates  the  rapid  growth  of  manufacturing  in  the  United 
States.  The  15  cotton-mills  of  1807  had  increased  to  801 
by  1831,  and  to  1240  by  1840.  The  distribution  of  indus- 
trial plants  in  the  United  States  by  1833,  pictured  in  the 
map  on  the  preceeding  page,  shows  the  development  in  the 
Northern  and  Eastern  cities.  The  South  owed  its  pros- 
perity chiefly  to  cotton-growing  and  shipping,  and  did  not 
develop  factories  and  workshops  until  a  much  more  recent 
period. 

Now  the  development  of  this  new  type  of  factory  work 
meant  the  beginnings  of  the  breakdown  of  the  old  home  and 
village  industries,  the  start  of  the  cityward  movement  of 
the  rural  population,  and  the  concentration  of  manufacturing 
in  large  establishments,  employing  many  hands  to  perform 
continuously  certain  limited  phases  of  the  manufacturing 
process.  This  in  time  was  certain  to  mean  a  change  in 
educational  methods.  It  also  called  for  the  concentration 
of  both  capital  and  labor.  The  rise  of  the  factory  system, 
business  on  a  large  scale,  and  cheap  and  rapid  transporta- 
tion, all  combined  to  diminish  the  importance  of  agricul- 
ture and  to  change  the  city  from  an  unimportant  to  a  very 
important  position  in  our  national  life.  The  13  cities  of 
1820  increased  to  44  by  1840,  and  to  141  by  1860.  There 
were  four  times  as  many  cities  in  the  North,  too,  where 
manufacturing  had  found  a  home,  as  in  the  South,  which 
remained  essentially  agricultural. 

New  social  problems  in  the  cities.  The  many  changes  in 
the  nature  of  industry  and  of  village  and  home  life,  effected 
by  the  development  of  the  factory  system  and  the  concen- 
tration of  manufacturing  and  population  in  the  cities,  also 
contributed  materially  in  changing  the  character  of  the  old 
educational  problem.  When  the  cities  were  as  yet  but 
little  villages  in  size  and  character,  homogeneous  in  their 
populations,  and  the  many  social  and  moral  problems  in- 
cident to  the  congestion  of  peoples  of  mixed  character  had 
not  as  yet  arisen,  the  church  and  charity  and  private  school 


AWAKENING  AN  EDUCATIONAL  CONSCIOUSNESS    107 

solution  of  the  educational  problem  was  reasonably  satis- 
factory. As  the  cities  now  rapidly  increased  in  size,  became 
more  city-like  in  character,  drew  to  them  diverse  elements 
previously  largely  unknown,  and  were  required  by  state 
laws  to  extend  the  right  of  suffrage  to  all  their  citizens,  the 
need  for  a  new  type  of  educational  organization  began 
slowly  but  clearly  to  manifest  itself  to  an  increasing  number 
of  citizens.  The  church,  charity,  and  private  school  system 
completely  broke  down  under  the  new  strain.  School  Socie- 
ties and  Educational  Associations,  organized  for  propaganda, 
now  arose  in  the  cities;  grants  of  city  or  state  funds  for  the 
partial  support  of  both  church  and  society  schools  were 
demanded  and  obtained;  and  numbers  of  charity  organiza- 
tions began  to  be  established  in  the  different  cities  to  enable 
them  to  handle  better  the  new  problems  of  pauperism,  in- 
temperance, and  juvenile  delinquency  which  arose. 

In  1833  it  was  estimated  that  one  eighth  of  the  total 
population  of  New  York  City  was  composed  of  public  pau- 
pers or  criminals,  while  the  city  had  one  saloon  for  every 
eighty  men,  women,  and  children  in  the  total  population. 
Other  cities  presented  somewhat  similar  conditions.  Child 
labor  and  woman  labor,  for  long  hours  and  for  very  low 
wages,  became  very  common.  The  powerful  restraining  in- 
fluences of  the  old  home,  with  its  strict  moral  code  and  reli- 
gious atmosphere,  seriously  weakened.  Idle  and  uneducated 
children,  with  little  or  no  home  control,  appeared  in  numbers 
on  the  streets,  and  the  prevalence  of  juvenile  crime  and 
juvenile  arrests  began  to  turn  attention  to  education  as  a 
ible  remedy.  The  disintegrating  effects  of  the  new  city 
life  on  the  family,  and  its  demoralizing  effect  upon  the  chil- 
dren, made  a  deep  impression  upon  those  possessed  of  hu- 
manitarian impulses,  as  it  did  also  on  many  of  the  parents 
<»f  the  children  concerned.  We  soon  find  these  two  very 
imilar  groups  of  people  —  the  humanitarians  on  the  one 
band  and  the  new  city  laboring  classes  on  the  other  —  unit- 
ing in  a  propaganda  for  tax-supported  schools. 


108  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

3.  The  extension  of  the  suffrage 

Breaking  the  rule  of  a  class.  As  was  stated  in  the  pre- 
ceding chapter,  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States, 
though  framed  by  the  ablest  men  of  the  time,  was  framed 
by  men  who  represented  the  old  aristocratic  conception  of 
education  and  government.  The  same  was  true  of  the  con- 
ventions which  framed  practically  all  the  early  state  con- 
stitutions. The  early  leaders  in  our  government  —  Wash- 
ington, Madison,  Hancock,  Adams,  Hamilton,  Jay  —  had 
been  of  this  older  aristocratic  class.  The  Federalist  Party, 
a  party  which  rendered  very  conspicuous  service  in  welding 
the  States  into  a  strong  and  enduring  Union,  had  never- 
theless represented  this  older  privileged  group,  and  by  1817 
had  done  its  work  and  been  broken  up.  The  early  period 
of  our  national  life  was  thus  characterized  by  the  rule  of  a 
class  —  a  very  well  educated  and  a  very  capable  class,  to  be 
sure  —  but  a  class  elected  by  a  ballot  based  on  property 
qualifications  and  belonging  to  the  older  type  of  political 
and  social  thinking. 

Notwithstanding  the  statements  of  the  Declaration  of 
Independence,  the  change  came  but  slowly.  Up  to  1815 
but  four  States  had  granted  the  right  to  vote  to  all  male 
citizens,  regardless  of  property  holdings  or  other  somewhat 
similar  restrictions.  After  1815  a  democratic  movement, 
which  sought  to  abolish  all  class  rule  and  all  political  in- 
equalities, arose  and  rapidly  gained  strength.  In  this  the 
new  States  to  the  westward,  with  their  absence  of  old  estates 
or  large  fortunes,  and  where  men  were  judged  more  on  their 
merits  than  in  an  older  society,  were  the  leaders.  As  will 
be  seen  from  the  map,  every  new  State  admitted  east  of  the 
Mississippi  River,  except  Ohio  (admitted  in  1802),  where  the 
New  England  element  predominated,  and  Louisiana  (1812), 
provided  for  full  manhood  suffrage  at  the  time  of  their  admis- 
sion to  statehood.  Five  additional  Eastern  States  had 
extended  the  same  full  voting  privileges  to  their  citizens  by 
1845,  while  the  old  requirements  had  been  materially  modi- 


AWAKENING  AN  EDUCATIONAL  CONSCIOUSNESS    109 

fied  in  most  of  the  other  Northern  States.     Writing  on  the 
influence  of  the  West,  Professor  Turner  says : 

The  frontier  States  that  came  into  the  Union  in  the  first  quarter 
of  a  century  of  its  existence  came  in  with  democratic  suffrage 
provisions,  and  had  reactive  effects  of  the  highest  importance  upon 


States  shaded  granted  full  suffrage 
at  the  time  of  admission  to  the  Union  ■ 


Fio.  25.  Dates  of  the  Granting  of  Full 

Manhood  Suffrage 

i 

Some  of  the  older  States  granted  almost  full  manhood  suffrage 
at  an  earlier  date,  retaining  a  few  minor  restrictions  until  the 
date  given  on  the  map. 


the  older  States  whose  people  were  being  attracted  there.  An 
extension  of  the  suffrage  became  essential.  It  was  western  New 
York  that  forced  an  extension  of  the  suffrage  in  the  constitutional 
convention  of  that  State  in  1821;  and  it  was  western  Virginia  that 
compelled  the  tide- water  region  to  put  in  a  more  liberal  provision 
in  the  constitution  of  1830,  and  to  give  the  frontier  region  a 
more  nearly  proportional  representation  with  the  tide-water  aris- 
tocracy. 


110  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

Significance  of  the  election  of  Jackson.  The  struggle  for 
the  overthrow  of  the  old  class  government  came  to  a  head 
in  1828,  when  Andrew  Jackson  was  elected  President.  From 
Washington  down  to  John  Quincy  Adams  the  Presidents 
had  been  drawn  from  the  old  aristocratic  class,  and  the  edu- 
cated and  propertied  classes  of  Massachusetts,  New  York, 
and  Virginia  had  largely  furnished  the  leaders  for  the  Na- 
tion. Jackson,  on  the  other  hand,  represented  the  frontier, 
and  was  everywhere  regarded  as  "  a  man  of  the  people."  His 
election  was  a  reaction  against  trained  leadership  in  govern- 
mental affairs.  The  period  when  the  people  were  to  follow 
men  of  education  and  good  breeding  was  now  for  a  time 
largely  past.  The  people  had  become  impatient  of  the  old 
claims  as  to  the  superiority  of  any  class,  and  the  demand  for 
equal  suffrage  and  for  full  participation  in  the  functions  of 
government  now  became  too  insistent  to  be  disregarded 
longer. 

This  impatience  and  distrust  expressed  itself  also  with  ref- 
erence to  governors  and  legislatures,  and  a  popular  demand 
for  changes  here  now  arose.  In  place  of  the  former  plan  of 
electing  a  governor  and  allowing  him  to  appoint  most  of  the 
other  officials,  a  long  list  of  elected  officials  now  appeared. 
The  people  demanded  and  usually  obtained  the  right  to 
vote  for  every  possible  officer,  and  short  terms  in  office  be- 
came the  rule.  Legislatures,  too,  instead  of  being  allowed 
to  meet  when  and  for  as  long  as  they  pleased,  were  now 
closely  limited  as  to  length  of  session,  and  allowed  to  meet 
only  at  stated  times.  This  democratic  movement  for  the 
leveling  cf  all  distinctions  between  white  men  became  very 
marked  after  1820,  and  the  final  result  was  full  manhood 
suffrage  in  all  the  States.  This  gave  the  farmer  in  the  West 
and  the  new  working  classes  in  the  cities  a  preponderating 
influence  in  the  affairs  of  government.  Jackson  represented 
both  these  elements,  and  was  elected  by  an  electoral  vote  of 
178  to  83  over  John  Quincy  Adams,  in  1828,  and  by  a  vote 
of  219  to  49  over  Henry  Clay,  in  1832. 

Educational  significance  of  the  extension  of  the  suffrage. 


AWAKENING  AN  EDUCATIONAL  CONSCIOUSNESS    111 

The  educational  significance  of  the  extension  of  full  man- 
hood suffrage  to  all  was  enormous  and  far  reaching.  Up  to 
the  time  of  the  separation  of  Church  and  State,  education 
had  not  been  conceived  of  as  a  function  with  which  the 
State  was  specially  concerned.  Since  the  right  to  vote  was 
closely  limited  by  religious  or  property  qualifications,  or 
both,  there  was  no  particular  reason  why  the  State  should 
assume  the  role  of  schoolmaster.  Such  citizens  as  were 
qualified  by  faith  or  property  holdings  to  vote  or  hold  office 
were  amply  able  to  pay  for  the  education  of  their  children 
privately.  It  was  not  necessary,  either,  for  more  than  a 
small  percentage  of  the  people  to  be  educated.  The  small 
educated  class  conducted  the  affairs  of  Church  and  State; 
the  great  majority  formed  "the  hewers  of  wood  and  the 
drawers  of  water"  for  society. 

With  the  extension  of  the  suffrage  to  all  classes  of  the  pop- 
ulation, poor  as  well  as  rich,  laborer  as  well  as  employer,  there 
came  to  thinking  men,  often  for  the  first  time,  a  realization 
that  general  education  had  become  a  fundamental  necessity 
for  the  State,  and  that  the  general  education  of  all  in  the 
elements  of  knowledge  and  civic  virtue  must  now  assume 
that  importance  in  the  minds  of  the  leaders  of  the  State  that 
the  education  of  a  few  for  the  service  of  the  Church  and  of 
the  many  for  simple  church  membership  had  once  held  in  the 
minds  of  ecclesiastics. 

This  new  conception  is  well  expressed  in  the  preamble  to 
the  first  (optional)  school  law  enacted  in  Illinois  (1825), 
which  declares: 

To  enjoy  our  rights  and  liberties,  we  must  understand  them; 
their  security  and  protection  ought  to  be  the  first  object  of  a  free 
people;  and  it  is  a  well-established  fact  that  no  nation  has  ever 
continued  long  in  the  enjoyment  of  civil  and  political  freedom, 
which  was  not  both  virtuous  and  enlightened;  and  believing  that 
the  advancement  of  literature  always  has  been,  and  ever  will  be 
the  means  of  developing  more  fully  the  rights  of  man,  that  the 
mind  of  every  citizen  in  a  republic  is  the  common  property  of 
society,  and  constitutes  the  basis  of  its  strength  and  happiness;  it 


112  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

is  therefore  considered  the  peculiar  duty  of  a  free  government,  like 
ours,  to  encourage  and  extend  the  improvement  and  cultivation  of 
the  intellectual  energies  of  the  whole. 

£.  New  public  demands  for  schools 
Utterances  of  public  men.  Governors  now  began  to  rec- 
ommend to  their  legislatures  the  establishment  of  tax-sup- 
ported schools,  and  public  men  began  to  urge  state  action 
and  state  control.  De  Witt  Clinton,  for  nine  years  governor 
of  New  York,  in  a  message  to  the  legislature,  in  1826,  defend- 
ing the  schools  established,  saidj 

The  first  duty  of  government,  and  the  surest  evidence  of  good 
government,  is  the  encouragement  of  education.  A  general  diffu- 
sion of  knowledge  is  a  precursor  and  protector  of  republican 
institutions,  and  in  it  we  must  confide  as  the  conservative  power 
that  will  watch  over  our  liberties  and  guard  them  against  fraud, 
intrigue,  corruption,  and  violence.  I  consider  the  system  of  our 
common  schools  as  the  palladium  of  our  freedom,  for  no  reasonable 
apprehension  can  be  entertained  of  its  subversion  as  long  as  the 
great  body  of  the  people  are  enlightened  by  education. 

Again  in  his  message  of  1827,  he  added: 

The  great  bulwark  of  republican  government  is  the  cultivation 
of  education;  for  the  right  of  suffrage  cannot  be  exercised  in  a  salu- 
tary manner  without  intelligence. 

In  an  address  delivered  before  the  Pennsylvania  legisla- 
ture, in  1835,  defending  the  Free  School  Law  of  1834,  which 
it  was  then  proposed  to  repeal,  Thaddeus  Stevens  declared: 

If  an  elective  Republic  is  to  endure  for  any  length  of  time,  every 
elector  must  have  sufficient  information  not  only  to  accumulate 
wealth  and  take  care  of  his  pecuniary  concerns,  but  to  direct 
wisely  the  legislature,  the  ambassadors,  and  the  Executive  of  the 
Nation  —  for  some  part  of  all  these  things,  some  agency  in  ap- 
proving or  disapproving  of  them,  falls  to  every  freeman.  If,  then, 
the  permanency  of  our  Government  depends  upon  such  knowledge, 
it  is  the  duty  of  Government  to  see  that  the  means  of  informa- 
tion be  diffused  to  every  citizen.  This  is  a  sufficient  answer  to 
those  who  deem  education  a  private  and  not  a  public  duty. 


I»l.  \\  III   CLINTOS 
(17G:<   : 
Preeldeiri  ..I  tbe  i  i- ■<•  Sebool  Society 
■  >r  <>f  tbe  <ity  of  New  Vi'ik 
Governor  of  the  State  of  New  York 


N     -.  •    *. 


AWAKENING  AN  EDUCATIONAL  CONSCIOUSNESS    113 

Daniel  Webster,  in  an  address  delivered  at  Madison,  In- 
diana, in  1837,  said: 

Education,  to  accomplish  the  ends  of  good  government,  should 
be  universally  diffused.  Open  the  doors  of  the  schoolhouses  to  all 
the  children  in  the  land.  Let  no  man  have  the  excuse  of  poverty 
for  not  educating  his  offspring.  Place  the  means  of  education 
within  his  reach,  and  if  he  remain  in  ignorance,  be  it  his  own 
reproach.  .  .  .  On  the  diffusion  of  education  among  the  people 
rests  the  preservation  and  perpetuation  of  our  free  institutions. 

In  the  Sangamon  (Illinois)  Journal,  of  March  15,  1832, 
there  appeared  an  interesting  communication  from  a  future 
president  of  the  United  States,  a  part  of  which  read: 

To  the  People  of  Sangamo(n)  County: 

Fellow  Citizens:  Having  become  a  candidate  for  the  honorable 
office  of  one  of  your  Representatives  in  the  next  General  Assembly 
of  this  State,  in  accordance  with  an  established  custom  and  the 
principles  of  true  republicanism,  it  becomes  my  duty  to  make 
known  to  you,  the  people  whom  I  propose  to  represent  —  my  senti- 
ments with  regard  to  local  affairs.  .  .  . 

Upon  the  subject  of  education,  not  presuming  to  dictate  any 
plan  or  system  respecting  it,  I  can  only  say  that  I  view  it  as  the 
most  important  subject  which  we  as  a  people  can  be  engaged  in. 
That  every  man  may  receive  at  least  a  moderate  education,  and 
thereby  be  enabled  to  read  the  histories  of  his  own  and  other  coun- 
tries, by  which  he  may  duly  appreciate  the  value  of  our  free  insti- 
tutions, appears  to  be  an  object  of  vital  importance,  even  on  this 
account  alone,  to  say  nothing  of  the  advantages  and  satisfaction 
to  be  derived  from  all  being  able  to  read  the  Scriptures  and  other 
works,  both  of  a  religious  and  moral  nature,  for  themselves.  For 
my  part,  I  desire  to  see  the  time  when  education,  and  by  its  means, 
morality,  sobriety,  enterprise,  and  industry,  shall  become  much 
more  general  than  at  present,  and  should  be  gratified  to  have  it 
in  my  power  to  contribute  something  to  the  advancement  of  any 
measure  which  might  have  a  tendency  to  accelerate  the  happy 
period. 

A.  Lincoln 

Workingmen  join  in  demanding  schools.  The  representa- 
tives of  the  newly  organized  labor  movement  joined  in  the 


114  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

demands  for  schools  and  education,  urging  the  free  educa- 
tion of  their  children  as  a  natural  right.  In  1829  the  work- 
ingmen  of  Philadelphia  asked  each  candidate  for  the  legis- 
lature for  a  formal  declaration  of  the  attitude  he  would 
assume  toward  the  provision  of  "  an  equal  and  a  general  sys- 
tem of  education  "  for  the  State.  In  1830  the  Workingmen 's 
Committee  of  Philadelphia  submitted  a  detailed  report,  after 
five  months  spent  in  investigating  educational  conditions 
in  Pennsylvania,  vigorously  condemning  the  lack  of  pro- 
vision for  education  in  the  State,  and  the  utterly  inadequate 
provision  where  any  was  made.  Seth  Luther,  in  an  address 
on  "The  Education  of  Workingmen,"  delivered  in  1832, 
declared  that  "a  large  body  of  human  beings  are  ruined  by 
a  neglect  of  education,  rendered  miserable  in  the  extreme, 
and  incapable  of  self-government."  Stephen  Simpson,  in 
his  A  Manual  for  Workingmen,  published  in  1831,  declared 
that  "  it  is  to  education,  therefore,  that  we  must  mainly  look 
for  redress  of  that  perverted  system  of  society,  which  dooms 
the  producer  to  ignorance,  to  toil,  and  to  penury,  to  moral 
degradation,  physical  want,  and  social  barbarism." 

With  the  invention  of  the  steam  printing-press  the  first 
modern  newspapers  at  a  cheap  price  appeared.  These 
usually  espoused  progressive  measures,  and  tremendously 
influenced  public  sentiment.  Those  not  closely  connected 
with  church  or  private-school  interests  usually  favored  pub- 
lic tax-supported  schools.  The  Delaware  Free  Press,  for 
example,  in  1835,  declared  a  part  of  its  mission  to  be: 

To  awaken  the  attention  of  Working  People  to  the  importance 
of  cooperation  in  order  to  attain  the  rank  and  station  in  society 
to  which  they  are  justly  entitled  by  virtue  of  their  industry,  but 
from  which  they  are  excluded  by  want  of  a  system  of  Equal  Republican 
Education.  '  • 

In  1837  the  Providence  (Rhode  Island)  Association  of 
Mechanics  and  Manufacturers  petitioned  the  city  council 
for  an  improvement  of  the  schools  of  the  city,  in  particular 
asking  for  more  schools,  smaller  classes,  and  better  salaries 


AWAKENING  AN  EDUCATIONAL  CONSCIOUSNESS    115 

for  the  teachers,  and  affirming  that  "no  subject  can  be  of 
more  importance  to  the  inhabitants  of  this  city  than  the 
education  of  the  rising  generation." 

At  first  various  substitutes  for  state  support  and  control 
were  tried.  School  Societies,  as  we  have  seen,  were  chartered. 
Religious  and  benevolent  schools  were  subsidized.  Nu- 
merous lotteries  for  the  support  of  schools  were  authorized 
by  law.  Grants  of  public  land  for  their  endowment  were 
made.  State  support  only  of  pauper  schools  was  tried. 
Freedom  of  taxation  to  schools  and  educational  societies 
was  granted.  Finally,  all  these  makeshifts  failing  to  meet 
the  needs  of  the  time,  they  were  gradually  discarded  as 
unsatisfactory  and  insufficient,  and  the  battle  for  free,  tax- 
supported,  non-sectarian,  and  publicly  controlled  and  di- 
rected schools,  to  serve  the  needs  of  society  and  the  State, 
was  begun. 

QUESTIONS  FOR  DISCUSSION 

1 .  Explain  why  the  development  of  a  national  consciousness  was  prac- 
tically necessary  before  an  educational  consciousness  could  be 
awakened. 

2.  Show  how  the  many  philanthropic  societies  for  the  education  of  the 
children  of  the  poor  came  in  as  a  natural  transition  from  Church  to 
State  education. 

S.  Show  the  importance  of  the  School  Societies  in  accustoming  people 
to  the  idea  of  free  and  general  education. 

4.  Show  how  the  Lancastrian  system  formed  the  necessary  bridge  be- 
tween private  philanthropy  in  education  and  tax-supported  State 
schools. 

5.  Why  were  the  highly  mechanical  features  of  the  Lancastrian  organi- 
zation so  advantageous  in  its  day,  whereas  we  of  to-day  would  regard 
them  as  such  a  disadvantage? 

6.  Account  for  the  Lancastrian  system's  great  superiority  over  the 
methods  of  colonial  schoolmasters. 

7.  Explain  how  the  Lancastrian  schools  dignified  the  work  of  the 
teacher  by  revealing  the  need  for  teacher  training. 

8.  What  were  two  of  the  important  contributions  of  the  Infant-School 
idea  to  American  education? 

9.  Why  are  schools  and  education  much  more  needed  in  a  country  ex- 
periencing a  city  and  manufacturing  development  than  in  a  country 
experiencing  an  agricultural  development? 


116         EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

10.  Show  how  the  development  of  cities  caused  the  old  forms  of  education 
to  break  down,  and  made  evident  the  need  for  a  new  type  of  education. 

11.  Show  how  each  extension  of  the  suffrage  necessitates  an  extension 
of  educational  opportunities  and  advantages. 

12.  Show  how  the  utterances  of  public  men  on  education,  quoted  in  this 
chapter,  evidence  a  much  clearer  conception  of  the  need  for  public 
education  than  do  those  quoted  in  the  preceding  chapter,  with  the 
possible  exception  of  the  quotation  from  John  Adams. 

TOPICS  FOR  INVESTIGATION  AND  REPORT 

1.  Work  of  the  New  York  Public  School  Society. 

2.  Educational  services  of  De  Witt  Clinton. 

3.  Organization  and  work  of  the  Lancastrian  schools. 

4.  The  workingmen's  movement  of  1825-40. 

SELECTED  REFERENCES 

*Barnard,  Henry,  Editor.  The  American  Journal  of  Education.  31  vols. 
Consult  Analytical  Index  to;  128  pp.  Published  by  United  States  Bureau 
of  Education,  Washington,  1892. 

Binns,  H.  B.  A  Century  of  Education,  1808-1908.  330  pp.  J.  M.  Dent  & 
Co.,  London,  1908. 

A  centenary  history  of  the  British  and  Foreign  School  Society,  which  promoted  Lan- 
castrian schools.    Chapter  I  contains  a  sketch  of  Lancaster. 

Boese,  Thomas.  Public  Education  in  the  City  of  New  York.  288  pp. 
Harper  &  Bros.,  New  York,  1869. 

A  history  of  the  development,  taken  from  the  official  records.     An  important  work, 
though  now  out  of  print,  but  listed  because  still  found  in  many  libraries. 

Bogart,  E.  L.  The  Economic  History  of  the  United  States.  522  pp.  Long- 
mans, Green  &  Co.,  New  York,  1908. 

Contains  good  chapters  (X-XII)  on   the  introduction  and  growth  of  the  factory 
system. 

*Carleton,  F.  T.  Education  and  Social  Progress.  320  pp.  TheMacmillan 
Co.,  New  York,  1908. 

Chapters  I  and  II  deal  with  epochs  in  American  educational  progress,  and  point  out 
the  relation  between  educational  advance  and  industrial  progress. 

*Dodd,  W.  E.    Expansion  and  Conflict.    329  pp.    Houghton  Mifflin  Co., 

Boston,  1915. 

Chapter  I  is  good  on  the  significance  of  the  election  of  Jackson,  and  Chapter  XI  gives 
a  very  good  brief  general  sketch  of  American  culture  between  about  1830  and  1860. 

Ellis,  Chas.  C.    Lancastrian  Schools  in  Philadelphia.    88  pp.    University 
of  Pennsylvania  Thesis,  1907. 
A  good  study  of  Lancastrian  schools  in  Philadelphia. 


AWAKENING  AN  EDUCATIONAL  CONSCIOUSNESS    117 

*Fitzpatrick,  E.  A.  The  Educational  Views  and  Influence  of  De  Witt 
Clinton.  156  pp.  Teachers  College  Contributions  to  Education,  No.  44. 
New  York,  1911. 

A  study  of  educational  conditions  in  New  York  at  the  time,  Clinton's  educational 
views,  and  his  influence. 

Knight,  Edgar  W.  Public  School  Education  in  North  Carolina.  384  pp. 
Houghton  Mifflin  Co.,  Boston,  1916. 

An  excellent  example  of  a  brief  history  of  education  in  a  State.  Chapters  6,  7,  and  8 
are  good  on  the  establishment  of  the  permanent  school  fund,  the  awakening  of  educational 
sentiment,  and  the  beginnings  of  public  education. 

*  Manuals  of  the  Lancastrian  System,    ca.  90  pp.    Various  dates,  1805-1850. 

Various  forms  of  these  are  found  in  libraries.  Some  are  of  the  British  and  Foreign 
School  Society,  and  others  of  the  New  York  School  Society,  of  various  dates.  Any  one 
will  usually  outline  the  system  of  instruction  employed  in  the  Lancastrian  schools. 

*McManis,  J.  T.     "The  public  school  society  of  New  York  City";  in 
Educational  Review,  vol.  29,  pp.  303-11.     (March,  1905.) 
A  brief  but  sympathetic  sketch  of  the  work  of  this  Society. 

*Monroe,  Paul.  Cyclopedia  of  Education.  The  Macmillan  Co.,  New  York, 
1911-13. 

The  following  articles  are  particularly  important: 

1.  "Joseph  Lancaster,"  III,  pp.  621-22. 

A  brief  biography. 

2.  "Monitorial  System,"  IV,  pp.  296-99. 

A  brief  description  of  the  rise  and  spread  of  the  idea. 

3.  "New  York  City,"  IV,  pp.  451-53. 

Sketches  briefly  the  history  of  early  education  in. 

♦Palmer,  A.  E.  The  New  York  Public  School.  440  pp.  The  Macmillan 
Co.,  New  York,  1905. 

The  first  sixteen  chapters  describe  the  work  of  the  Public  School  Society  in  some 
detail,  and  contain  much  important  data. 

*Reigart,  J.  F.  The  Lancastrian  System  of  Instruction  in  the  Schools  of  New 
York  City.  105  pp.  Teachers  College  Contributions  to  Education, 
No.  81,  New  York,  1916. 

An  excellent  study  of  the  introduction  of  the  system,  and  the  methods  of  instruction 
employed  in  the  schools. 

*Salmon,  David.  Joseph  Lancaster.  76  pp.  Longmans,  Green  &  Co., 
London,  1904. 

The  standard  biography  of  Lancaster. 

*Simons,  A.  M.  Social  Forces  in  American  History.  325  pp.  The  Mac- 
millan Co.,  New  York,  1911. 

Very  simple  and  well-written  chapters  on  the  birth  of  the  factory  system  (XIII),  chang- 
ing interests  of  the  people  (XIV),  condition  of  the  workers  (XVI),  and  the  first  labor 


CHAPTER  V 

THE  BATTLE  FOR  FREE  STATE  SCHOOLS 

I.  Alignment  of  Interests,  and  Propaganda 
Stages  in  the  development  of  a  public  school  sentiment. 
Speaking  broadly  and  of  the  Nation  as  a  whole,  and  always 
excepting  certain  regions  in  New  England,  where  the  free- 
school  idea  had  become  thoroughly  established,  a  study  of 
the  history  of  educational  development  in  the  older  States 
to  the  North  and  East  reveals,  as  we  have  so  far  partially 
pointed  out,  approximately  the  following  stages  in  the  de- 
velopment of  a  public  school  sentiment  and  the  establish- 
ment of  a  state  school  system: 

1.  An  attempt  to  solve  the  problem  through  private  benevolence 
or  church  charity,  often  aided  by  small  grants  of  public  funds. 

2.  Aid  granted  to  private  or  semi-private  schools  or  school  socie- 
ties, in  the  form  of  small  money  grants,  license  taxes,  permis- 
sion to  organize  lotteries,  or  land  endowments,  to  enable  such 
schools  or  societies  to  extend  their  instruction  or  to  reduce 
their  tuition  rates,  or  both. 

3.  Permission  granted  generally,  or  to  special  districts  request- 
ing it,  to  form  a  tax  district  and  organize  schools  —  at  first 
often  only  for  pauper  children,  but  later  for  others. 

4.  Laws  requiring  the  education  of  the  indigent  poor. 

5.  Laws  requiring  a  certain  local  effort  for  the  maintenance  of 
schools,  in  return  for  state  aid  received,  with  permission  to 
supplement  these  sums  with  tuition  fees. 

6.  Elimination  of  the  tuition  fees,  thus  establishing  free  schools. 

7.  Elimination  of  the  pauper-school  idea  and  of  aid  to  sectarian 
schools,  thus  establishing  the  American  common  school. 

Something  like  half  a  century  of  agitation  and  conflict, 
again  speaking  broadly  and  of  the  Nation  as  a  whole,  was 
required  to  produce  the  succession  of  changes  indicated 
above,  but  by  1850  it  may  be  said  that  the  question  of 


BATTLE  FOR  FREE  STATE  SCHOOLS  119 

providing  a  common-school  education  for  all  children  at 
public  expense  had  been  settled,  in  principle  at  least,  in 
every  Northern  State.  In  some  of  the  Southern  States,  as 
well,  quite  a  respectable  beginning  looking  toward  the 
creation  of  state  school  systems  had  been  made  before  the 
coming  of  the  Civil  War  for  a  time  put  an  end  to  all  educa- 
tional development  there. 

The  alignment  of  interests.  The  second  quarter  of  the 
nineteenth  century  may  be  said  to  have  witnessed  the  battle 
for  tax-supported,  publicly  controlled  and  directed,  and 
non-sectarian  common  schools.  In  1825  such  schools  were 
the  distant  hope  of  statesmen  and  reformers;  in  1850  they 
were  becoming  an  actuality  in  almost  every  Northern  State. 
The  twenty-five  years  intervening  marked  a  period  of  pub- 
lic agitation  and  educational  propaganda;  of  many  hard 
legislative  fights;  of  a  struggle  to  secure  desired  legislation, 
and  then  to  hold  what  had  been  secured;  of  many  bitter  con- 
tests with  church  and  private-school  interests,  which  felt 
that  their  "vested  rights,,  were  being  taken  from  them;  and 
of  occasional  referenda  in  which  the  people  were  asked,  at 
the  next  election,  to  advise  the  legislature  as  to  what  to  do. 
Excepting  the  battle  for  the  abolition  of  slavery,  perhaps 
no  question  has  ever  been  before  the  American  people  for 
settlement  which  caused  so  much  feeling  or  aroused  such 
bitter  antagonisms.  Old  friends  and  business  associates 
parted  company  over  the  question,  lodges  were  forced  to 
taboo  the  subject  to  avoid  disruption,  ministers  and  their 
congregations  often  quarreled  over  the  question  of  free 
schools,  and  politicians  avoided  the  issue.  The  friends  of 
free  schools  were  at  first  commonly  regarded  as  fanatics, 
dangerous  to  the  State,  and  the  opponents  of  free  schools 
were  considered  by  them  as  old-time  conservatives  or  as 
selfish  members  of  society. 

iturally  such  a  bitter  discussion  of  a  public  question 
forced  an  alignment  of  the  people  for  or  against  publicly  sup- 
ported and  controlled  schools,  and  this  alignment  of  interests 
may  be  roughly  stated  to  have  been  about  as  follows: 


120  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

/.  For  'public  schools. 
Men  considered  as: 

1.  "Citizens  of  the  Republic." 

2.  Philanthropists  and  humanitarians. 

3.  Public  men  of  large  vision. 

4.  City  residents. 

5.  The  intelligent  workingmen  in  the  cities. 

6.  Non-taxpayers. 

7.  Calvinists. 

8.  "New-England  men." 

II.  Lukewarm,  or  against  public  schools. 
Men  considered  as: 

1.  Belonging  to  the  old  aristocratic  class. 

2.  The  conservatives  of  society. 

3.  Politicians  of  small  vision. 

4.  Residents  of  rural  districts. 

5.  The  ignorant,  narrow-minded,  and  penurious. 

6.  Taxpayers. 

7.  Lutherans,  Reformed-Church,  Mennonites,  and  Quakers. 

8.  Southern  men. 

9.  Proprietors  of  private  schools. 
10.  The  non-English-speaking  classes. 

It  was,  of  course,  not  possible  to  so  classify  all  persons,  as 
a  man  might  belong  to  two  or  more  of  the  above  classes. 
An  example  of  such  would  be  a  Lutheran  and  a  non-taxpay- 
ing  workingman  in  a  city,  or  a  Calvinist  and  a  heavy  tax- 
payer. In  all  such  cases  there  would  be  a  conflict  of  inter- 
ests with  the  stronger  one  prevailing,  but,  in  a  general  way, 
the  above  classification  of  the  alignment  of  interests  is  ap- 
proximately correct. 

Arguments  for  and  against  free  schools.  Both  sides  to 
the  controversy  advanced  many  arguments  for  and  against 
state  tax-supported  schools,  the  more  important  on  each 
side  being  the  following: 

J.  Arguments  for  public  tax-supported  schools. 

1.  That  education  tends  to  prevent  pauperism  and  crime. 

2.  That  education  tends  to  reduce  poverty  and  distress. 

3.  That   education   increases   production,    and   eliminates 
wrong  ideas  as  to  the  distribution  of  wealth. 


BATTLE  FOR  FREE  STATE  SCHOOLS  121 

4.  That  a  common  state  school,  equally  open  to  all,  would 
prevent  that  class  differentiation  so  dangerous  in  a 
Republic. 

5.  That  the  old  church  and  private  school  education  had 
proved  utterly  inadequate  to  meet  the  needs  of  a  changed 
society. 

6.  That  a  system  of  religious  schools  is  impossible  in  such  a 
mixed  nation  as  our  own. 

7.  That  the  pauper-school  idea  is  against  the  best  interests 
of  society,  inimical  to  public  welfare,  and  a  constant 
offense  to  the  poor,  many  of  whom  will  not  send  their 

C  children  because  of  the  stigma  attached  to  such  schools. 
8.  That  education  as  to  one's  civic  duties  is  a  necessity  for 
the  intelligent  exercise  of  suffrage,  and  for  the  preserva- 
tion of  republican  institutions. 
9.  That  the  increase  of  foreign  immigration  (which  became 
quite  noticeable  after  1825,  and  attained  large  propor- 
tions after  1845)  is  a  menace  to  our  free  institutions,  and 
that  these  new  elements  can  be  best  assimilated  in  a  sys- 
tem of  publicly  supported  and  publicly  directed  common 
schools. 

10.  That  the  free  and  general  education  of  all  children  at 
public  expense  is  the  natural  right  of  all  children  in  a 
Republic. 

11.  That  the  social,  moral,  political,  and  industrial  benefits 
to  be  derived  from  the  general  education  of  all  compen- 
sate many  times  over  for  its  cost. 

12.  That  a  State  which  has  the  right  to  hang  has  the  right  to 
educate. 

13.  That  the  taking  over  of  education  by  the  State  is  not 
based  on  considerations  of  economy,  but  is  the  exercise 
of  the  State's  inherent  right  to  self-preservation  and 
improvement. 

14.  That  only  a  system  of  state-controlled  schools  can  be 
free  to  teach  whatever  the  welfare  of  the  State  may 
demand. 

//,  Arguments  against  public  tax-supported  schools. 

1.  Impractical,  visionary,  and  "too  advanced"  legislation. 

2.  Will  make  education  too  common,  and  will  educate  peo- 
ple out  of  their  proper  position  in  society. 


122  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

3.  Would  not  benefit  the  masses,  who  are  already  as  well 
cared  for  as  they  deserve. 

4.  Would  tend  to  break  down  long-established  and  very 
desirable  social  barriers. 

5.  Would  injure  private  and  parochial  schools,  in  which 
much  money  had  been  put  and  "vested  rights"  estab- 
lished. 

6.  Fear  of  the  churches  that  state  schools  might  injure 
their  church  progress  and  welfare. 

7.  Fear  of  the  non-English  speaking  classes  that  state  schools 
might  supplant  instruction  in  their  languages. 

8.  The  "conscientious  objector"  claimed  that  the  State  had 
no  right  to  interfere  between  a  parent  and  his  child  in  the 
matter  of  education. 

9.  That  those  having  no  children  to  be  educated  should  not 
be  taxed  for  schools. 

10.  That  taking  a  man's  property  to  educate  his  neighbor's 
child  is  no  more  defensible  than  taking  a  man's  plow  to 
plow  his  neighbor's  field. 

11.  That  the  State  may  be  justified  in  taxing  to  defend  the 
liberties  of  a  people,  but  not  to  support  their  benevolences. 

12.  That  the  industrious  would  be  taxed  to  educate  the 
indolent. 

13.  That  taxes  would  be  so  increased  that  no  State  could 
long  meet  such  a  lavish  drain  on  its  resources. 

14.  That  there  was  priestcraft  in  the  scheme,  the  purpose 
being  first  to  establish  a  State  School,  and  then  a  State 
Church. 

The  work  of  propaganda.  To  meet  the  arguments  of  the 
objectors,  to  change  the  opinions  of  a  thinking  few  into  the 
common  opinion  of  the  many,  to  overcome  prejudice,  and 
to  awaken  the  public  conscience  to  the  public  need  for  free 
and  common  schools  in  such  a  democratic  society  as  ours, 
was  the  work  of  a  generation.  With  many  of  the  older  citi- 
zens no  progress  could  be  made;  the  effective  work  every- 
where had  to  be  done  with  the  younger  men  of  the  time. 
It  was  the  work  of  many  years  to  convince  the  masses  of  the 
people  that  the  scheme  of  state  schools  was  not  only  prac- 
ticable, but  also  the  best  and  most  economical  means  for 


BATTLE  FOR  FREE  STATE  SCHOOLS     123 

giving  their  children  the  benefits  of  an  education;  to  con- 
vince propertied  citizens  that  taxation  for  education  was  in 
the  interests  of  both  public  and  private  welfare;  to  convince 
legislators  that  it  was  safe  to  vote  for  free-school  bills;  and 
to  overcome  the  opposition  due  to  apathy,  religious  jeal- 
ousies, and  private  interests.  In  time,  though,  the  desir- 
ability of  common,  free,  tax-supported,  non-sectarian,  state- 
controlled  schools  became  evident  to  a  majority  of  the 
citizens  in  the  different  American  States,  and  as  it  did  the 
American  State  School,  free  and  equally  open  to  all,  was 
finally  evolved  and  took  its  place  as  the  most  important 
institution  in  our  national  life  working  for  the  perpetuation 
of  our  free  democracy  and  the  advancement  of  the  public 
welfare. 

For  this  work  of  propaganda  hundreds  of  School  Societies 
and  Educational  Associations  were  organized;  many  con- 
ventions were  held,  and  resolutions  favoring  state  schools 
were  adopted;  many  "Letters"  and  "Addresses  to  the 
Public' '  were  written  and  published;  public-spirited  citizens 
traveled  over  the  country,  making  addresses  to  the  people 
explaining  the  advantages  of  free  state  schools;  many  public- 
spirited  men  gave  the  best  years  of  their  lives  to  the  state- 
school  propaganda;  and  many  governors  sent  communica- 
tions on  the  subject  to  legislatures  not  yet  convinced  as  to 
the  desirability  of  state  action.  At  each  meeting  of  the  legis- 
latures for  years  a  deluge  of  resolutions,  memorials,  and 
petitions  for  and  against  free  schools  met  the  members. 

Propaganda  societies.  One  of  the  earliest  of  these  propa- 
ganda societies  for  state  schools  was  the  "Pennsylvania 
Society  for  the  Promotion  of  Public  Economy,"  organized 
in  1817.  Ten  years  later  a  branch  of  this  Society  became 
the  "Pennsylvania  Society  for  the  Promotion  of  Public 
Schools."  This  Society  for  many  years  kept  up  a  vigorous 
campaign  for  a  state  free-school  law.  Another  early  society 
of  importance  was  the  "Hartford  Society  for  the  Improve- 
ment of  Common  Schools,"  founded  in  1827.  Another  was 
the  "Western  Academic  Institute  and  Board  of  Education," 


124  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

formed  in  1829,  at  Cincinnati,  largely  by  New  England 
people,  for  propaganda  work  in  the  State  of  Ohio.  Another 
was  the  Boston  "Society  for  the  Diffusion  of  Useful  Knowl- 
edge," organized  in  1829,  with  the  promotion  of  public 
education  as  one  of  its  objects.  In  1830  the  "American  In- 
stitute of  Instruction"  was  organized  at  Boston,  and  in 
1838  this  Association  offered  a  prize  of  $500  for  the  best 
essay  on  "A  System  of  Education  best  adapted  to  the 
Common  Schools  of  our  Country."  A  number  of  societies 
for  propaganda  were  organized  in  New  York  State  between 
1830  and  1840.  In  New  Jersey  the  "  Society  of  Teachers  and 
Friends  of  Education"  held  conventions,  drew  up  memorials 
and  petitions,  and  its  members  visited  all  parts  of  the  State 
advocating  general  education  at  public  expense,  and  espe- 
cially the  elimination  of  pauper-school  education.  Much 
valuable  work  was  done  by  associations  of  teachers  in  Penn- 
sylvania, between  1838  and  1852.  In  1839  a  national  con- 
vention was  held  in  Philadelphia  to  discuss  the  needs  of 
education  in  the  United  States.  In  1850  an  important  edu- 
cation convention  was  held  in  Harrisburg,  the  proceedings  of 
which  were  printed  and  widely  circulated.  In  1838  a  con- 
vention of  the  "Friends  of  Education"  was  held  at  Trenton, 
and  a  committee  was  appointed  to  prepare  an  "Address" 
to  the  people  of  the  State.  The  result  was  a  new  school  law 
which  instituted  a  partial  state  school  system,  and  secured 
an  increase  in  the  state  appropriation  for  schools  from 
$20,000  to  $30,000  yearly. 

The  decades  of  the  thirties  and  the  forties  witnessed  the 
formation  of  a  large  number  of  these  educational  associa- 
tions, organized  to  build  up  a  sentiment  for  public  educa- 
tion. They  were  founded  not  only  in  the  older  States  of  the 
East,  but  also  in  such  widely  scattered  States  as  Georgia, 
Florida,  and  Tennessee.  In  1 829  the  "  Western  Academic  In- 
stitute and  Board  of  Education"  was  formed  at  Cincinnati, 
such  men  as  Samuel  Lewis,  Lyman  Beecher,  and  Professor 
Calvin  E.  Stowe  being  prominent  in  its  organization.  For 
more  than  a  decade  this  association  and  its  successor,  the 


BATTLE  FOR  FREE  STATE  SCHOOLS  125 

"Western  Literary  Institute  and  College  of  Professional 
Teachers"  (1832)  made  Cincinnati  the  center  of  educational 
propaganda  in  the  then  West.  It  raised  money,  employed 
an  agent  to  visit  the  schools  of  the  State,  diffused  informa- 
tion as  to  education,  tried  to  elevate  the  character  of  the 
teachers  of  the  State,  and  repeatedly  sent  delegations  to  the 
legislature  to  ask  for  action.  It  sent  Professor  Stowe  to 
Europe  to  investigate  education  there,  and  on  his  return  in- 
duced the  legislature  (1837)  to  print  10,000  copies  of  his 
Report  on  Elementary  Education  in  Europe  for  distribution. 
This  Report  was  also  reprinted  afterward  by  the  legislatures 
of  Pennsylvania,  Michigan,  Massachusetts,  North  Carolina, 
and  Virginia.  In  1836  it  called  a  state  convention  of  the 
"Friends  of  Education,"  in  1837  induced  the  legislature  to 
create  the  office  of  Superintendent  of  Common  Schools,  and 
in  1838  the  culmination  of  its  efforts  came  in  what  has  been 
frequently  called  "the  great  school  law  of  Ohio." 

In  1834  over  half  the  counties  of  Illinois  sent  delegates  to 
an  "Illinois  Educational  Convention"  at  Vandalia,  which 
appointed  a  committee  of  seven  to  draft  a  memorial  to  the 
legislature  and  outline  a  plan  for  common  schools  and  an 
"Address"  to  the  people  of  the  State.  In  1844  a  conven- 
tion of  "Friends  of  Education,"  held  at  Peoria,  demanded 
of  the  legislature  the  appointment  of  a  State  Superintendent 
of  Schools  and  the  levying  of  a  state  school  tax.  In  1845 
the  Democratic  Convention  of  Wilkinson  County,  Kentucky, 
adopted  elaborate  resolutions  in  favor  of  the  establishment 
of  free  public  schools,  and  instructed  its  delegates  to  the 
state  convention  to  press  the  matter.  In  1847  a  number  of 
"State  Common  School  Conventions"  were  held  in  Indiana 
to  build  up  sentiment  for  taxation  for  schools.  These  are 
but  examples  of  the  work  of  the  numerous  propaganda  so- 
cieties, formed  in  increasing  numbers  between  1825  and 
1850. 

Support  from  associations  of  workingmen.  Workingmen, 
too,  through  their  newly  formed  organizations,  also  took 
a  prominent  part  in  the  propaganda  for  the  establishment 


126  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

of  public  tax-supported  schools.  Among  the  many  resolu- 
tions adopted  by  these  wage-earners  the  following  are 
typical: 

At  a  General  Meeting  of  Mechanics  and  Workingmen 
held  in  New  York  City,  in  1829,  it  was: 

Resolved,  that  next  to  life  and  liberty,  we  consider  education  the 
greatest  blessing  bestowed  upon  mankind. 

Resolved,  that  the  public  funds  should  be  appropriated  (to  a 
reasonable  extent)  to  the  purpose  of  education  upon  a  regular 
system  that  shall  insure  the  opportunity  to  every  individual  of 
obtaining  a  competent  education  before  he  shall  have  arrived  at 
the  age  of  maturity. 

At  a  meeting  of  workingmen  held  in  Philadelphia,  in 
1829,  it  was  declared  that: 

No  system  of  education,  which  a  freeman  can  accept,  has  yet 
been  established  for  the  poor;  whilst  thousands  of  dollars  of  the 
public  money  has  been  appropriated  for  building  colleges  and 
academies  for  the  rich. 

Each  candidate  for  the  state  legislature  was  formally  asked 
to  declare  his  attitude  toward  "an  equal  and  general  system 
of  Education.' '  In  1830  they  adopted  a  long  Report  on  the 
conditions  of  education  in  Pennsylvania,  demanded  schools, 
and  declared  that  there  could  be  "no  real  liberty  in  a  repub- 
lic without  a  wide  diffusion  of  real  intelligence." 

In  1830  the  Workingmen's  Party  of  Philadelphia  included, 
as  the  first  plank  in  its  platform: 

Resolved,  that  the  time  has  arrived  when  it  becomes  the  para- 
mount duty  of  every  friend  to  the  happiness  and  freedom  of  man 
to  promote  a  system  of  education  that  shall  embrace  equally  all 
the  children  of  the  state,  of  every  rank  and  condition. 

In  1830  an  Association  of  Workingmen  was  formed  at 
New  Castle,  Delaware,  and  in  their  constitution  they  pro- 
vided: 

Let  us  unite  at  the  polls  and  give  our  votes  to  no  candidate  who 
is  not  pledged  to  support  a  rational  system  of  education  to  be  paid 
for  out  of  the  public  funds. 


BATTLE  FOR  FREE  STATE  SCHOOLS     127 

At  a  Boston  meeting  of  "  Workingmen,  Mechanics,  and 
others  friendly  to  their  interests,"  in  1830,  it  was: 

Resolved,  that  the  establishment  of  a  liberal  system  of  education, 
attainable  by  all,  should  be  among  the  first  efforts  of  every  law- 
giver who  desires  the  continuance  of  our  national  independence. 

In  1830  the  "Farmers',  Mechanics',  and  Workingmen 's " 
Party  of  New  York  State,  in  convention  at  Salina,  included 
as  one  of  the  planks  in  its  platform  the  following: 

Resolved,  that  a  scheme  of  education,  more  universal  in  its  effects, 
is  practicable,  so  that  no  child  in  the  republick,  however  poor, 
should  grow  up  without  an  opportunity  to  acquire  at  least  a  com- 
petent English  education;  and  that  the  system  should  be  adapted 
to  the  conditions  of  the  poor  both  in  the  city  and  country. 

In  1835  the  workingmen  of  the  city  of  Washington  enu- 
merated as  one  of  their  demands  the  establishment  of  "a 
universal  system  of  education,"  and  in  1836  the  "General 
Trades  Union "  of  Cincinnati,  in  an  "Appeal  to  the  Working- 
men  of  the  West,"  urged  that  they  try  to  elevate  their  con- 
dition by  directing  their  efforts  toward  obtaining  "a  na- 
tional system  of  education." 

Recommendations  of  governors.  A  number  of  the  early 
governors  were  public  men  of  large  vision,  who  saw  the  de- 
sirability of  the  State  establishing  a  general  system  of  edu- 
cation years  before  either  the  legislature  or  the  people  had 
clearly  sensed  the  need.  In  Delaware,  for  example,  almost 
every  year  from  1822  to  1829  succeeding  governors  urged 
the  legislature  to  establish  a  genuine  system  of  education, 
as  provided  for  in  the  state  constitution  (p.  62).  The  peo- 
ple, however,  were  unwilling  to  tax  themselves  for  schools, 
and  only  the  city  of  Wilmington  made  any  real  headway  in 
providing  them.  In  Pennsylvania,  in  1825,  the  governor 
made  a  strong  plea  for  a  system  of  education,  and  again  in 
1828  the  legislature  was  urged  to  establish  a  public  school 
system,  but  the  first  free  school  law  dates  from  1834.  The 
^ages  of  the  New  York  governors,  especially  the  two 
Clintons,  form  famous  documents  in  favor  of  free  tax-sup- 


128  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

ported  schools.  In  1826,  1827,  1828,  1829,  1835,  and  1836 
New  York  governors  urged  the  State's  duty,  and  held  that 
the  establishment  of  a  good  system  of  public  instruction  was 
an  evidence  of  good  government.  In  Connecticut  (1825, 
1828),  Massachusetts  (1826,  1837),  and  Maine  (1831)  gov- 
ernors recommended  an  improvement  in  the  schools,  and  a 
dependence  upon  a  wide  diffusion  of  education  for  the  hap- 
piness and  security  of  the  State. 

After  1825,  and  especially  through  the  decade  of  the 
thirties,  governors  generally  began  to  give  emphasis  to  edu- 
cation in  their  messages.  In  the  new  Western  States  the 
messages  often  were  clear  and  emphatic,  and  the  arguments 
for  education  strong.  While  usually  at  the  time  not  in- 
fluencing a  legislature  to  action,  these  messages  were  influ- 
ential in  effecting  a  change  in  the  attitude  of  the  people 
toward  the  question  of  tax-supported  schools. 


II.  Phases  of  the  Battle  for  State-Supported 
Schools 

The  problem  which  confronted  those  interested  in  estab- 
lishing state-controlled  schools  was  not  exactly  the  same  in 
any  two  States,  though  the  battle  in  many  States  possessed 
common  elements,  and  hence  was  somewhat  similar  in  char- 
acter. Instead  of  tracing  the  struggle  in  detail  in  each  of 
the  different  States,  it  will  be  much  more  profitable  for  our 
purposes  to  pick  out  the  main  strategic  points  in  the  contest, 
and  then  illustrate  the  conflict  for  these  by  describing  con- 
ditions in  one  or  two  States  where  the  controversy  was  most 
severe  or  most  typical.  The  seven  strategic  points  in  the 
struggle  for  free,  tax-supported,  non-sectarian,  state-con- 
trolled schools  were: 

1.  The  battle  for  tax  support. 

2.  The  battle  to  eliminate  the  pauper-school  idea. 

3.  The  battle  to  make  the  schools  entirely  free. 

4.  The  battle  to  establish  state  supervision. 
5    The  battle  to  eliminate  sectarianism. 


BATTLE  FOR  FREE  STATE  SCHOOLS  129 

6.  The  battle  to  extend  the  system  upward. 

7.  Addition  of  the  state  university  to  crown  the  system. 

In  this  and  the  two  following  chapters  we  shall  consider 
each  of  these,  in  order. 

1.  The  battle  far  tax  support 

Early  support  and  endowment  funds.  In  New  England, 
land  endowments,  local  taxes,  direct  local  appropriations, 
license  taxes,  and  rate  bills  (that  is,  a  per-capita  tax  levied 
on  the  parents  of  the  children  attending  school)  had  long 
been  common.  Land  endowments  began  early  in  the  New 
England  colonies,  while  rate  bills  date  back  to  the  earliest 
times  and  long  remained  a  favorite  means  of  raising  money 
for  school  support.  These  means  were  adopted  in  the  dif- 
ferent States  after  the  beginning  of  our  national  period,  and 
to  them  were  added  a  variety  of  license  taxes,  wThile  occu- 
pational taxes,  lotteries,  and  bank  taxes  also  were  employed 
to  raise  money  for  schools.  A  few  examples  of  these  may 
be  cited : 

Connecticut,  in  1774,  turned  over  all  proceeds  of  liquor 
licenses  to  the  towns  where  collected,  to  be  used  for  schools. 
New  Orleans,  in  1826,  licensed  two  theaters  on  condition 
that  they  each  pay  $3000  annually  for  the  support  of 
schools  in  the  city.  New  York,  in  1799,  authorized  four 
state  lotteries  to  raise  $100,000  for  schools,  a  similar  amount 
again  in  1801,  and  numerous  other  lotteries  before  1810. 
Congress  passed  fourteen  joint  resolutions,  between  1812 
and  1836,  authorizing  lotteries  to  help  support  the  schools 
of  the  city  of  Washington.  Bank  taxes  were  a  favorite 
source  of  income  for  schools,  between  about  1825  and  1860, 
banks  being  chartered  on  condition  that  they  would  pay  over 
each  year  for  schools  a  certain  sum  or  percentage  of  their 
earnings.  These  all  represent  what  is  known  as  indirect 
taxation,  and  were  valuable  in  accustoming  the  people  to  the 
idea  of  public  schools  without  appearing  to  tax  them  for 
their  support. 

The  National  Land  Grants,  begun  in  the  case  of  Ohio  in 


130  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

1802  (p.  59),  soon  stimulated  a  new  interest  in  schools. 
Each  State  admitted  after  Ohio  also  received  the  sixteenth 
section  for  the  support  of  common  schools,  and  two  town- 
ships of  land  for  the  endowment  of  a  state  university.  The 
new  Western  States,  following  the  lead  of  Ohio  (p.  60), 
dedicated  these  section  lands  and  funds  to  free  common 
schools.  The  sixteen  older  States,  however,  did  not  share  in 
these  grants,  so  most  of  them  now  set  about  building  up  a 
permanent  school  fund  of  their  own,  though  at  first  without 
any  very  clear  idea  as  to  how  the  income  from  the  fund  was 
to  be  used.  Connecticut  and  New  York  both  had  set  aside 
lands,  before  1800,  to  create  such  a  fund,  Connecticut's  fund 
dating  back  to  1750.  Delaware,  in  1796,  devoted  the  income 
from  marriage  and  tavern  licenses  to  the  same  purpose,  but 
made  no  use  of  the  fund  for  twenty  years.  Connecticut,  in 
1795,  sold  its  "Western  Reserve"  in  Ohio  for  $1,200,000,  and 
added  this  to  its  school  fund.  New  York,  in  1805,  similarly 
added  the  proceeds  of  the  sale  of  half  a  million  acres  of  state 
lands,  though  the  fund  then  formally  created  accumulated 
unused  until  1812.  Tennessee  began  to  build  up  a  perma- 
nent state  school  fund  in  1806;  Virginia  in  1810;  South  Caro- 
lina in  1811;  Maryland  in  1812;  New  Jersey  in  1816;  Georgia 
in  1817;  Maine,  New  Hampshire,  Kentucky,  and  Louisiana 
in  1821;  Vermont  and  North  Carolina  in  1825;  Pennsylvania 
in  1831;  and  Massachusetts  in  1834.  These  were  estab- 
lished as  permanent  state  funds,  the  annual  income  only 
to  be  used,  in  some  way  to  be  determined  later,  for  the  sup- 
port of  some  form  of  schools.  Some  of  these  funds,  as 
has  just  been  stated,  accumulated  for  years  before  any  use 
was  made  of  the  income  (New  York  for  twelve;  Delaware 
for  twenty;  New  Jersey  for  thirteen),  while  the  income 
in  other  of  the  States  was  for  a  time  used  exclusively  for 
the  support  of  pauper  schools.  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania, 
Delaware,  Maryland,  Virginia,  and  Georgia  all  for  a  time 
belonged  to  this  latter  class.  These  permanent  funds 
also  represented  a  form  of  indirect  taxation,  and  formed 
important  accumulations  of  capital,  the  income  of  which 


BATTLE  FOR  FREE  STATE  SCHOOLS     131 

later  went  for  school  support  and  to  that  extent  relieved 
taxation. 

The  beginnings  of  school  taxation.  The  early  idea,  which 
seems  for  a  time  to  have  been  generally  entertained,  that 
the  income  from  land  grants,  license  fees,  and  these  perma- 
nent endowment  funds  would  in  time  entirely  support  the 
necessary  schools,  was  gradually  abandoned  as  it  was  seen 
how  little  in  yearly  income  these  funds  and  lands  really 
produced,  and  how  rapidly  the  population  of  the  States  was 
increasing.  By  1825  it  may  be  said  to  have  been  clearly 
recognized  by  thinking  men  that  the  only  safe  reliance  of 
a  system  of  state  schools  lay  in  the  general  and  direct  tax- 
ation of  all  property  for  their  support.  "The  wealth  of 
the  State  must  educate  the  children  of  the  State"  became  a 
watchword,  and  the  battle  for  direct,  local,  county,  and 
state  taxation  for  education  was  clearly  on  by  1825  to  1830 
in  all  the  Northern  States,  except  the  four  in  New  England 
where  the  principle  of  taxation  for  education  had  for  long 
been  established.  Now  for  the  first  time  direct  taxation  for 
schools  was  likely  to  be  felt  by  the  taxpayer,  and  the  fight 
for  and  against  the  imposition  of  such  taxation  was  on  in 
earnest.  The  course  of  the  struggle  and  the  results  were 
somewhat  different  in  the  different  States,  but,  in  a  general 
way,  the  progress  of  the  conflict  was  somewhat  as  follows: 

1.  Permission  granted  to  communities  so  desiring  to  organize  a 
school  taxing  district,  and  to  tax  for  school  support  the  prop- 
erty of  those  consenting  and  residing  therein. 

2.  Taxation  of  all  property  in  the  taxing  district  permitted. 

3.  State  aid  to  such  districts,  at  first  from  the  income  from  per- 
manent endowment  funds,  and  later  from  the  proceeds  of  a 
small  state  appropriation  or  a  state  or  county  tax. 

4.  Compulsory  local  taxation  to  supplement  the  state  or  county 
grant. 

Types  of  early  permissive  legislation.  In  the  older  States, 
always  excepting  the  four  Calvinistic  New  England  States, 
tho  beginnings  of  this  permissive  legislation  were  usually 
obtained  by  the  cities.    With  their  pressing  new  social  prob- 


132  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

lems  they  could  not  afford  to  wait  for  the  rural  sections  of 
their  States.  Accordingly  they  sought  and  obtained  per- 
missive city  school-tax  legislation,  and  proceeded  to  organ- 
ize their  schools  independently,  incorporating  them  later 
into  the  general  state  organization.  Thus  Providence  be- 
gan schools  in  1800,  and  Newport  in  1825,  whereas  the 
first  Rhode  Island  general  law  was  not  enacted  until  1828; 
the  "Free  School  Society"  of  New  York  City  was  chartered 
by  the  legislature  in  1805,  and  the  first  permanent  state 
school  law  dates  from  1812;  Philadelphia  was  permitted  to 
organize  schools  by  special  legislation  in  181£  and  1818, 
while  the  first  general  school  law  for  Pennsylvania  dates  from 
1834;  Baltimore  secured  a  special  law  in  1825,  a  year  ahead 
of  the  first  Maryland  general  school  legislation;  and  Mobile 
was  given  special  permission  to  organize  schools  in  1826, 
though  the  first  general  state  school  law  in  Alabama  dates 
from  1854. 

As  other  examples  typical  of  early  permissive  state  legis- 
lation may  be  mentioned  the  Maryland  law  of  1816,  giv- 
ing permission  to  the  voters  of  Caroline  County  to  decide 
whether  they  would  support  a  school  by  subscription  or  taxa- 
tion; the  New  Jersey  law  of  1820,  which  permitted  any 
county  in  the  State  to  levy  a  county  tax  for  the  education  of 
the  children  of  the  poor;  the  Missouri  law  of  1824,  which 
permitted  a  district  tax  for  schools,  on  written  demand  of  two 
thirds  of  the  voters  of  the  district,  to  maintain  a  school  the 
length  of  time  each  year  the  majority  of  the  parents  should 
decide;  the  Illinois  optional  tax  law  of  1825,  nullified  in 
1827  by  providing  that  the  voters  might  decide  to  raise 
only  half  the  cost  of  the  school  by  taxation,  and  that  no  man 
could  be  taxed  for  schools  unless  he  filed  his  consent  in  writ- 
ing; the  Rhode  Island  law  of  1828,  giving  the  towns  permis- 
sion to  levy  a  tax  for  schools,  if  they  saw  fit;  the  optional 
district  tax  laws  of  1830  in  Kentucky,  1834  in  Pennsylvania, 
and  1840  in  Iowa;  the  Mississippi  optional  tax  law  of  1846, 
which  permitted  a  district  tax  only  after  a  majority  of  the 
heads  of  families  in  the  district  had  filed  their  consent  in 


BATTLE  FOR  FREE  STATE  SCHOOLS  133 

writing;  and  the  Indiana  optional  county  tax  law  of  1848. 
Many  of  these  early  laws  proved  to  be  dead  letters,  except 
in  the  few  cities  of  the  time  and  in  a  few  very  progressive 
communities,  partly  because  it  was  made  too  difficult  to 
initiate  and  too  easy  to  prevent  action,  and  partly  because 
they  were  too  far  ahead  of  public  sentiment  to  be  carried 
into  force. 

The  struggle  to  secure  such  legislation,  weak  and  ineffec- 
tive as  it  seems  to  us  to-day,  was  often  hard  and  long. 
"Campaigns  of  education"  had  to  be  prepared  for  and  car- 
ried through.  Many  thought  that  tax-supported  schools 
would  be  dangerous  for  the  State,  harmful  to  individual 
good,  and  thoroughly  undemocratic.  Many  did  not  see  the 
need  for  schools  at  all,  and  many  more  were  in  the  frame  of 
mind  of  the  practical  New  England  farmer  who  declared 
that  "the  Bible  and  figgers  is  all  I  want  my  boys  to  know." 
Often  those  in  favor  of  taxation  were  bitterly  assailed,  and 
even  at  times  threatened  with  personal  violence.  Henry 
Barnard,  who  rendered  such  useful  service  in  awakening 
Connecticut  and  Rhode  Island,  between  1837  and  1845,  to 
the  need  for  better  schools,  tells  us  that  a  member  of  the 
Rhode  Island  legislature  told  him  that  a  bill  providing  a 
small  state  tax  for  schools,  which  he  was  then  advocating, 
even  if  passed  by  the  legislature  could  not  be  enforced  in 
Rhode  Island  at  the  point  of  the  bayonet.  A  Rhode  Island 
farmer  threatened  to  shoot  him  if  he  ever  caught  him  on  his 
property  advocating  "such  heresy  as  the  partial  confisca- 
tion of  one  man's  property  to  educate  another  man's  child." 
A  member  of  the  Indiana  legislature,  of  1837,  declared  that 
when  he  died  he  wanted  engraved  on  his  tombstone,  "Here 
lies  an  enemy  to  free  schools." 

Growth  of  a  public  school  sentiment  illustrated  by  taxa- 
tion in  Ohio.  The  progress  of  the  struggle  to  secure  taxa- 
tion for  the  maintenance  of  public  schools  differed  somewhat 
in  detail  in  the  different  States,  but  Ohio  and  Indiana  offer 
us  good  illustrative  examples  —  the  first  of  a  slow  but 
peaceful  settlement  of  the  question,  the  other  of  a  settle- 


154  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

ment  only  after  vigorous  fighting.  The  history  in  Ohio 
may  be  summarized  as  follows: 

1802.  State  admitted  to  the  Union. 

1806,  1816.  Organization  of  schools  permitted.  Only  means  of 
support  rents  of  school  section  lands  and  rate-bills. 

1821.  All  property  of  residents  of  district  made  taxable  for 
schools. 

1825.  Building  of  schoolhouses  permitted;  site  must  be  donated. 

1825.  A  county  school  tax  of  one  half  mill  required  to  be  levied. 

1827.  State  permanent  school  fund  created. 

1827.  Building  repairs  limited  to  $300,  and  two  thirds  vote  re- 
quired to  authorize  this  expenditure. 

1829.  Special  organization  and  tax  law  enacted  for  Cincinnati. 

1831.  Non-resident  property-holders  also  made  liable  for  district 
school  taxes. 

1834.  Each  parent  sending  a  child  to  school  must  provide  his 
quota  of  wood. 

1836.  County  tax  increased  to  one  and  one  half  mills. 

1838.  Purchase  of  a  school  site  permitted.  Majority  vote  for 
repairs  reduced  to  one  half. 

1838.  First  state  school  tax  of  one  half  mill  levied. 

1853.  Rate-bill  abolished,  and  schools  made  free. 

Some  of  the  older  States  and  a  number  of  the  newer  States 
have  had  a  somewhat  similar  history  of  a  slow  but  gradual 
education  of  the  people  to  the  acceptance  of  the  burdens  of 
school  support. 

The  battle  for  taxation  illustrated  by  Indiana.  Ohio  was 
predominantly  New  England  in  stock  (see  map,  p.  73), 
but  Indiana  represented  a  more  mixed  type  of  population. 
The  New  England  element  dominated  the  northern  part  of 
the  State,  and  was  prominent  along  the  eastern  edge  and 
down  the  Ohio,  especially  near  Cincinnati.  The  Southern 
element  was  in  the  majority  in  the  southern  and  central 
portion  of  the  State.  Between  these  two  elements  there 
was  a  conflict  for  a  generation  over  the  question  of  tax- 
supported  schools.  Even  more  was  it  a  battle  between 
the  charity  and  pauper-school  conception  of  education  of  the 
Southern  element,  and  the  strong-state  conception  of  the 
New  England  Yankee. 


BATTLE  FOR  FREE  STATE  SCHOOLS     135 

Though  admitted  in  1816,  with  a  constitution  making 
careful  provision  for  a  complete  state  system  of  schools  (see 
p.  75),  the  first  general  school  law  was  not  enacted  until 
1824.  This  merely  authorized  schools  where  wanted,  and 
permitted  their  support  by  a  district  tax  or  by  the  rate-bill. 
Nothing  more  was  done  until  1836.  In  this  year  two  laws 
were  enacted  which  provided  a  form  of  compulsory  town- 
ship taxation  for  schools.  The  first  gave  back  to  each  town- 
ship one  fourth  of  its  state  poll  taxes,  and  the  second  gave 
back  five  per  cent  of  the  general  state  taxes  collected  therein, 
with  the  provision  that  these  moneys  should  be  used  to  help 
maintain  schools  in  the  townships.  This  was  regarded  as  an 
entering  wedge  to  state  taxation  for  a  system  of  public  edu- 
cation, and  was  so  bitterly  opposed  that  it  became  the  chief 
election  issue  in  1837.  The  opponents  of  tax-supported 
schools  carried  the  day,  and  the  legislature  then  elected 
met  and  promptly  repealed  the  law. 

Nothing  more  was  done  until  1848.  In  1847  a  "State 
Common  School  Convention"  was  held,  and  a  bill  was  pre- 
pared which  provided  for  a  personal  poll  tax  of  25  cents,  a 
state  tax  of  .6  of  a  mill,  and  a  similar  township  tax  for  schools. 
This  was  presented  to  the  legislature  of  1848,  with  a  demand 
for  action.  The  legislature,  however,  was  cautious  and  un- 
decided, and  voted  to  obtain  first  a  referendum  on  the  sub- 
ject at  the  elections  of  1848.  This  was  done,  with  the  result 
shown  on  the  map  on  the  following  page.  The  New  England 
element  in  the  population  came  out  strong  for  tax-supported 
schools,  the  Southern  element  opposing.  Though  66  per 
cent  of  the  counties  and  56  per  cent  of  the  population  fa- 
vored tax-supported  schools,  the  legislature  of  1849  was 
still  afraid  to  act.  Finally  an  optional  law,  providing  for 
a  25-cent  poll  tax,  a  general  county  tax  of  1  mill,  and  an 
insurance  premium  tax  was  enacted,  with  permission  to  levy 
additional  taxes  locally.  The  law,  however,  was  not  to  apply 
to  any  county  until  accepted  by  the  voters  thereof,  and  a 
new  referendum  on  the  law  was  ordered  for  1849.  The  vote 
in  1 849  was  not  essentially  different  from  that  of  1848.    Two 


136 


EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 


counties  that  had  favored  the  tax  in  1848  by  very  small  mar- 
gins now  fell  below,  while  four  counties  reversed  themselves 


75.1  to  93.8  HH 

Fig.  26.  The  Indiana  Referendum  of  1848 

Thirty-four  per  cent  of  the  counties  and  forty-four  per  cent  of  the  electors  voted  No. 

the  other  way.  The  map  for  the  referendum  of  1848  is 
essentially  true  also  for  the  referendum  of  1849.  The  two 
referenda  gave  the  following  results : 


BATTLE  FOR  FREE  STATE  SCHOOLS  137 

18h8  18& 

Total  vote  on  the  question 140,410  142,391 

Vote  for  tax-supported  schools 78,523  79,079 

Vote  against  tax-supported  schools 61,887  63,312 

Majority  for  tax-supported  schools 16,636  15,767 

Voters  favoring  tax-supported  schools 56%  55% 

Voters  opposing  tax-supported  schools 44%  45% 

Counties  favoring  tax-supported  schools 66%  68% 

Counties  opposing  tax-supported  schools 34%  32% 

The  new  constitution  of  1851  settled  the  matter,  despite 
much  opposition,  by  providing  for  a  state  tax-supported 
school  system,  and  in  1852  the  first  general  state  school  tax 
(of  1  mill)  was  levied  on  all  property  in  the  State.  This 
ended  the  main  battle  in  Indiana. 

The  struggle  to  prevent  misappropriation  as  illustrated  by 
Kentucky.  At  approximately  the  same  time  as  the  struggle 
in  Indiana  a  conflict  was  also  taking  place  in  Kentucky  which 
was  illustrative  of  early  political  standards  regarding  edu- 
cation and  educational  funds.  The  Kentucky  Act  of  1830 
had  provided  for  schools  and  local  taxation,  but  so  great  was 
the  indifference  of  the  people  to  education  and  their  unwill- 
ingness to  bear  taxation  that  the  law  remained  practically 
a  dead  letter.  In  1837  the  State  received  $1,433,754  as  a 
virtual  gift  from  the  National  Government  in  the  distri- 
bution of  the  so-called  Surplus  Revenue,  and  $850,000  of  this 
was  put  into  a  state  school  fund  and  invested  in  state  inter- 
nal improvement  bonds.  At  that  time  an  investigation 
showed  that  one  half  the  children  of  school  age  in  the  State 
had  never  been  to  school,  and  that  one  third  of  the  adult 
population  could  not  read  or  write. 

In  1840  the  State  refused  to  pay  the  interest  on  the  school 
fund  bonds,  and  in  1845  the  legislature  ordered  the  bonds 
destroyed  and  repudiated  the  state's  debt  to  the  school  fund. 
Now  began  a  battle  to  change  conditions,  led  by  the  Rever- 
end Robert  J.  Breckinridge,  a  descendant  of  a  Scotch  Cove- 
nanter who  had  come  to  Kentucky  from  Pennsylvania, 
and  who  became  State  Superintendent  of  Common  Schools 
in  1847.     He  first  obtained  from  the  legislature  of  1848  a 


138  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

new  bond  for  the  confiscated  school  funds  for  $1,225,768, 
thus  adding  all  unpaid  interest  to  the  principal  of  the  bond. 
The  next  year  he  secured  legislation  permitting  the  people 
to  vote  at  the  fall  elections  for  a  two-mill  state  school  tax, 
stumped  the  State  for  the  measure,  and  carried  the  proposal 
by  a  majority  of  36,882.  In  the  constitutional  convention 
of  1850  he  not  only  secured  the  first  constitutional  mention 
of  education  and  made  provision  for  a  state  system  of 
schools,  but  also  had  the  debt  to  the  state  school  fund 
recognized  at  $1,326,770,  and  the  fund  declared  inviolable. 
In  the  legislature  of  1850,  against  the  determined  opposition 
of  the  governor,  he  secured  further  legislation  making  the 
interest  on  the  school  fund  due  to  the  schools  a  first  charge 
on  any  moneys  in  the  state  treasury.  This  closed  the  fight 
of  ten  years  to  force  the  State  to  be  honest  with  and  sup- 
port education  in  the  State.  Similar  fights,  involving  school 
lands  or  funds,  took  place  in  some  of  the  other  States, 
though  not  always  so  successfully  as  in  Kentucky. 

State  support  fixed  the  state  system.  With  the  begin- 
nings of  state  aid  in  any  substantial  sums,  either  from  the 
income  from  permanent  endowment  funds,  state  appropria- 
tions, or  direct  state  taxation,  the  State  became,  for  the 
first  time,  in  a  position  to  enforce  quite  definite  require- 
ments in  many  matters.  Communities  which  would  not 
meet  the  State's  requirements  would  receive  no  state  funds. 

One  of  the  first  requirements  to  be  thus  enforced  was 
that  communities  or  districts  receiving  state  aid  must  also 
levy  a  local  tax  for  schools.  Commonly  the  requirement 
was  a  duplication  of  state  aid.  Generally  speaking,  and 
recognizing  exceptions  in  a  few  States,  this  represents  the 
beginnings  of  compulsory  local  taxation  for  education.  As 
early  as  1797  Vermont  had  required  the  towns  to  support 
their  schools  on  penalty  of  forfeiting  their  share  of  state 
aid.  New  York  in  1812,  Delaware  in  1829,  and  New  Jersey 
in  1846  required  a  duplication  of  all  state  aid  received. 
Wisconsin,  in  its  first  constitution  of  1848,  required  a  local 
tax  for  schools  equal  to  one  half  the  state  aid  received.    The 


BATTLE  FOR  FREE  STATE  SCHOOLS  139 

next  step  in  state  control  was  to  add  still  other  require- 
ments, as  a  prerequisite  to  receiving  state  aid.  One  of  the 
first  of  such  was  that  a  certain  length  of  school  term,  com- 
monly three  months,  must  be  provided  in  each  school  dis- 
trict. Another  was  the  provision  of  free  heat,  and  later  on 
free  school  books  and  supplies. 

When  the  duplication-of-state-aid-received  stage  had 
been  reached,  compulsory  local  taxation  for  education  had 
been  established,  and  the  great  central  battle  for  the  crea- 
tion of  a  state  school  system  had  been  won.  The  right  to 
tax  for  support,  and  to  compel  local  taxation,  was  the  key 
to  the  whole  state  system  of  education.  From  this  point 
on  the  process  of  evolving  an  adequate  system  of  school 
support  in  any  State  has  been  merely  the  further  education 
of  public  opinion  to  see  new  educational  needs.  The  proc- 
ess generally  has  been  characterized  by  a  gradual  increase 
in  the  amount  of  the  required  school  tax,  the  addition  of 
new  forms  of  or  units  for  taxation,  and  a  broadening  of  the 
scope  and  purpose  of  taxation  for  education.  The  develop- 
ment has  followed  different  lines  in  different  States,  and 
probably  no  two  States  to-day  stand  at  exactly  the  same 
place  in  the  evolution  of  a  system  of  school  support.  So 
vital  is  school  finance,  however,  that  the  position  of  any 
state  school  system  to-day  is  in  large  part  determined  by 
how  successful  the  State  has  been  in  evolving  an  adequate 
system  of  public  school  support. 

2.  The  battle  to  eliminate  the  pauper-school  idea 
The  pauper-school  idea.  The  home  of  the  pauper-school 
idea  in  America,  as  will  be  remembered  from  the  map 
given  on  page  70,  was  the  old  Central  and  Southern  States. 
New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  Delaware,  Maryland,  Virginia, 
and  Georgia  were  the  chief  representatives,  though  the  idea 
bad  friends  among  certain  classes  of  the  population  in  other 
of  the  older  States.  The  new  and  democratic  West  would 
not  tolerate  it.  The  pauper-school  conception  was  a  direct 
inheritance  from  English  rule,  belonged  to  a  society  based  on 


140         EDUCATION  IN  THEE  UNITED  STATES 

classes,  and  was  wholly  out  of  place  in  a  Republic  founded  on 
the  doctrine  that  "all  men  are  created  equal,  and  endowed  by 
their  Creator  with  certain  inalienable  rights."  Still  more, 
it  was  a  very  dangerous  conception  of  education  for  a  demo- 
cratic form  of  government  to  tolerate  or  to  foster.  Its 
friends  were  found  among  the  old  aristocratic  or  conserva- 
tive classes,  the  heavy  taxpayers,  the  supporters  of  church 
schools,  and  the  proprietors  of  private  schools.  Citizens 
who  had  caught  the  spirit  of  the  new  Republic,  public  men 
of  large  vision,  intelligent  workingmen,  and  men  of  the  New 
England  type  of  thinking  were  opposed  on  principle  to  a 
plan  which  drew  such  invidious  distinctions  between  the 
future  citizens  of  the  State.  To  educate  part  of  our  children 
in  church  or  private  pay  schools,  they  said,  and  to  segregate 
those  too  poor  to  pay  tuition  and  educate  them  at  public 
expense  in  pauper  schools,  often  with  the  brand  of  pauper 
made  very  evident  to  them,  was  certain  to  create  classes  in 
society  which  in  time  would  prove  a  serious  danger  to  our 
democratic  institutions. 

Large  numbers  of  those  for  whom  the  pauper  schools  were 
intended  would  not  brand  themselves  as  paupers  by  sending 
their  children  to  the  schools,  and  others  who  accepted  the 
advantages  offered,  for  the  sake  of  their  children,  despised 
the  system.  Concerning  the  system  "The  Philadelphia 
Society  for  the  Establishment  and  Support  of  Charity 
Schools"  in  an  "Address  to  the  Public,"  in  1818,  said: 

In  the  United  States  the  benevolence  of  the  inhabitants  has  led 
to  the  establishment  of  Charity  Schools,  which,  though  affording 
individual  advantages,  are  not  likely  to  be  followed  by  the  political 
benefits  kindly  contemplated  by  their  founders.  In  the  country 
a  parent  will  raise  children  in  ignorance  rather  than  place  them  in 
charity  schools.  It  is  only  in  large  cities  that  charity  schools  suc- 
ceed to  any  extent.  These  dispositions  may  be  improved  to  the 
best  advantage,  by  the  Legislature,  in  place  of  Charity  Schools, 
establishing  Public  Schools  for  the  education  of  all  children,  the 
offspring  of  the  rich  and  the  poor  alike. 

The  battle  for  the  elimination  of  the  pauper-school  idea 
was  fought  out  in  the  North  in  the  States  of  Pennsylvania 


BATTLE  FOR  FREE  STATE  SCHOOLS  141 

and  New  Jersey,  and  the  struggle  in  these  two  States  we 
shall  now  briefly  describe. 

The  Pennsylvania  legislation.  In  Pennsylvania  we  find 
the  pauper-school  idea  fully  developed.  The  constitution  of 
1790  (p.  64)  had  provided  for  a  state  system  of  pauper 
schools,  but  nothing  was  done  to  carry  even  this  constitu- 
tional direction  into  effect  until  1802.  A  pauper-school  law 
was  then  enacted,  directing  the  overseers  of  the  poor  to 
notify  such  parents  as  they  deemed  sufficiently  indigent 
that,  if  they  would  declare  themselves  to  be  paupers,  their 
children  might  be  sent  to  some  specified  private  or  pay 
school  and  be  given  free  education.  The  expense  for  this  was 
assessed  against  the  education  poor-fund,  which  was  levied 
and  collected  in  the  same  manner  as  were  road  taxes  or 
taxes  for  poor  relief.  No  provision  was  made  for  the  estab- 
lishment of  public  schools,  even  for  the  children  of  the  poor, 
nor  was  any  standard  set  for  the  education  to  be  provided 
in  the  schools  to  which  they  were  sent.  No  other  general 
provision  for  elementary  education  was  made  in  the  State 
until  1834. 

With  the  growth  of  the  cities,  and  the  rise  of  their  special 
problems,  something  more  than  this  very  inadequate  pro- 
vision for  schooling  became  necessary.  "The  Philadelphia 
Society  for  the  Establishment  and  Support  of  Charity 
Schools"  had  long  been  urging  a  better  system,  and  in  1814 
"The  Society  for  the  Promotion  of  a  Rational  System  of 
Education"  was  organized  in  Philadelphia  for  the  purpose 
of  educational  propaganda.  Bills  were  prepared  and  pushed, 
and  in  1818  Philadelphia  was  permitted,  by  special  law,  to 
organize  as  "the  first  school  district"  in  the  State  of  Penn- 
sylvania, and  to  provide,  with  its  own  funds,  a  system  of 
Lancastrian  schools  for  the  education  of  the  children  of  its 
poor.  In  1821  the  counties  of  Dauphin  (Harrisburg),  Alle- 
gheny (Pittsburg),  Cumberland  (Carlisle),  and  Lancaster 
(Lancaster)  were  also  exempted  from  the  state  pauper-school 
law,  and  allowed  to  organize  schools  for  the  education  of  the 
children  of  their  poor. 


142  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

That  this  plan  for  the  education  of  the  children  of  the  poor 
reached  but  few  children  in  the  State  not  otherwise  pro- 
vided for  was  shown  by  a  Report  made  to  the  legislature,  in 
1829.  At  that  time  but  31  of  the  51  counties  of  the  State 
reported  children  as  being  educated  under  the  poor-law 
act,  and  these  showed  that  the  number  of  poor  children  be- 
ing paid  for  had  been  only: 

4940,  in  1825;  9014,  in  1827; 

7943,  in  1826;  4477,  in  1828. 

There  were  at  that  time  estimated  to  be  400,000  children 
in  the  State  between  the  ages  of  5  and  15,  not  over  150,000 
of  whom  were  attending  any  kind  of  school.  In  1833,  the 
last  year  of  the  pauper-school  system,  the  number  educated 
had  increased  to  17,467  for  the  State,  and  at  an  expense  of 
$48,466.25  to  the  counties,  or  an  average  yearly  expense  per 
pupil  of  $2.10.  No  wonder  the  heavy  taxpayers  regarded 
favorably  such  an  inexpensive  plan  for  public  education. 

In  1824  an  optional  free-school  law  was  enacted  which 
permitted  the  organization  of  public  schools,  but  provided 
that  no  child  could  attend  school  at  public  expense  longer 
than  three  years.  Even  this  was  repealed  in  1826,  and  the 
old  pauper-school  law  was  reinstated. 

The  Law  of  1834.  In  1827  "  The  Pennsylvania  Society  for 
the  Promotion  of  Public  Schools"  began  an  educational 
propaganda,  which  did  much  to  bring  about  the  Free-School 
Act  of  1834.  In  an  "Address  to  the  Public"  it  declared  its 
objects  to  be  the  promotion  of  public  education  throughout 
the  State  of  Pennsylvania,  and  the  "Address"  closed  with 
these  words: 

This  Society  is  at  present  composed  of  about  250  members,  and 
a  correspondence  has  been  commenced  with  125  members,  who 
reside  in  every  district  in  the  State.  It  is  intended  to  direct  the 
continued  attention  of  the  public  to  the  importance  of  the  subject; 
to  collect  and  diffuse  all  information  which  may  be  deemed  valu- 
able; and  to  persevere  in  their  labors  until  they  shall  be  crowned 
with  success, 


BATTLE  FOR  FREE  STATE  SCHOOLS 


143 


Memorials  were  presented  to  the  legislature  year  after 
year,  governors  were  interested,  "Addresses  to  the  Public'* 
were  prepared,  and  a  vigorous  propaganda  was  kept  up 
until  the  Free-School  Law  of  1834  was  the  result. 

This  law,  though,  was  optional.  It  created  every  ward, 
township,  and  borough  in  the  State  a  school  district,  a  total 
of  987  being  created  for  the  State.     Each  school  district 


1       [Qto20<%     EZE321to40%  H341  to  6096    |=^61  to  80%  1^81  to  100% 

Fio.  27.  The  Pennsylvania  School  Elections  of  1835 

Showing  the  percentage  of  school  districts  in  each  county  organizing  under  and  accepting 
the  School  Law  of  1834.  Percentage  of  district  accepting  indicated  on  the  map  for  a  few  of 
the  counties. 


was  ordered  to  vote  that  autumn  on  the  acceptance  or  re- 
jection of  the  law.  Those  accepting' the  law  were  to  organ- 
ize under  its  provisions,  while  those  rejecting  the  law  were  to 
continue  under  the  educational  provisions  of  the  old  Pauper- 
School  Act. 

The  results  of  the  school  elections  of  1834  are  shown,  by 
counties,  on  the  above  map.  Of  the  total  of  987  districts 
created,  502,  in  46  of  the  then  52  counties  (Philadelphia 
County  not  voting),  or  52  per  cent  of  the  whole  number, 
voted  to  accept  the  new  law  and  organize  under  it ;  204  dis- 


144  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

tricts,  in  31  counties,  or  27  per  cent  of  the  whole,  voted  de- 
finitely to  reject  the  law;  and  221  districts,  in  46  counties,  or 
21  per  cent  of  the  whole,  refused  to  take  any  action  either 
way.  In  3  counties,  indicated  on  the  map,  every  district  ac- 
cepted the  law,  and  in  5  counties,  also  indicated,  every  dis- 
trict rejected  or  refused  to  act  on  the  law.  A  study  of  this 
map,  in  comparison  with  the  map  given  on  page  73,  shows 
once  more  the  influence  of  the  New  England  element  settled 
along  the  northern  border  of  the  State.  The  democratic 
West,  with  its  Scotch-Irish  Presbyterian  population,  is  also 
in  evidence.  It  was  the  predominantly  German  counties, 
located  in  the  east-central  portion  of  the  State,  which  were 
strongest  in  their  opposition  to  the  new  law.  One  reason 
for  this  was  that  the  new  law  provided  for  English  schools; 
another  was  the  objection  of  the  thrifty  Germans  to  taxa- 
tion; and  another  was  the  fear  that  the  new  state  schools 
might  injure  their  German  parochial  schools. 

The  final  victory  over  the  pauper-school  forces.  The  real 
fight  for  free  versus  pauper  schools  was  yet  to  come.  Legis- 
lators who  had  voted  for  the  law  were  bitterly  assailed, 
and,  though  it  was  but  an  optional  law,  the  question  of  its 
repeal  and  the  reinstatement  of  the  old  Pauper-School  Law 
became  the  burning  issue  of  the  campaign  in  the  autumn  of 
1834.  Many  legislators  who  had  favored  the  law  were  de- 
feated for  reelection.  Others,  seeing  defeat,  refused  to  run. 
Petitions  for  the  repeal  of  the  law,  and  remonstrances  against 
its  repeal,  flooded  the  legislature.  Some  32,000  persons 
petitioned  for  a  repeal  of  the  law,  66  of  whom  signed  by 
making  their  mark,  and  "not  more  than  five  names  in  a 
hundred,"  reported  a  legislative  committee  which  inves- 
tigated the  matter,  "were  signed  in  English  script."  It  was 
from  among  the  Germans  that  the  strongest  opposition  to 
the  law  came.  This  same  committee  further  reported  that 
so  many  of  the  names  were  "so  illegibly  written  as  to  afford 
the  strongest  evidence  of  the  deplorable  disregard  so  long 
paid  by  the  Legislature  to  the  constitutional  injunction  to 
establish  a  general  system  of  education." 


battle  for  free  state  schools        us 

The  Senate  at  once  repealed  the  law,  but  the  House, 
largely  under  the  leadership  of  a  Vermonter  by  the  name 
of  Thaddeus  Stevens,  refused  to  reconsider,  and  finally  forced 
the  Senate  to  accept  #n  amended  and  a  still  stronger  bill. 
This  defeat  finally  settled,  in  principle  at  least,  the  pauper- 
school  question  in  Pennsylvania,  though  it  was  not  until 
1873  that  the  last  district  in  the  State  accepted  the  new  sys- 
tem. The  law  provided  for  state  aid,  state  supervision  of 
schools,  and  county  and  local  taxation,  but  districts  refusing 
to  accept  the  new  system  could  receive  no  portion  of  the  new 
funds.  During  the  first  year  a  three  and  one-half  months' 
free  school  was  provided.  By  1836  the  new  free-school  law 
had  been  accepted  by  75  per  cent  of  the  districts  in  the 
State,  by  1838  by  84  per  cent,  and  by  1847  by  88  per  cent. 
In  1848  the  legislature  ordered  free  schools  in  all  districts, 
but,  not  attaching  a  compulsory  feature  to  the  enactment 
beyond  the  forfeiting  of  any  state  aid,  it  was  twenty-five 
years  longer  before  the  last  district  gave  in  and  accepted  the 
law.  In  1849  a  four  months'  free  school  was  made  neces- 
sary to  receive  any  state  aid. 

Eliminating  the  pauper  school  idea  in  New  Jersey.  No 
constitutional  mention  of  education  was  made  in  NeW  Jer- 
sey until  1844,  and  no  educational  legislation  was  passed 
until  1816.  In  that  year  a  permanent  state  school  fund 
was  begun,  and  in  1820  the  first  permission  to  levy  taxes 
"for  the  education  of  such  poor  children  as  are  paupers" 
was  granted.  In  1828  an  extensive  investigation  showed 
that  one  third  of  the  children  of  the  State  were  without 
educational  opportunities,  and  as  a  result  of  this  investiga- 
tion the  first  general  school  law  for  the  State  was  enacted, 
in  1829.  This  provided  for  district  schools,  school  trustees 
and  visitation,  licensed  teachers,  local  taxation,  and  made 
a  state  appropriation  of  $20,000  a  year  to  help  establish  the 
system.  The  next  year,  however,  this  law  was  repealed 
and  the  old  pauper-school  plan  reestablished,  largely  due 
to  the  pressure  of  church  and  private-school  interests.  In 
1830  and  1831  the  state  appropriation  was  made  divisible 


146  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

among  private  and  parochial  schools,  as  well  as  the  public 
pauper  schools,  and  the  use  of  all  public  money  was  limited 
"to  the  education  of  the  children  of  the  poor." 

Between  1828  and  1838  a  number  of  conventions  of  friends 
of  free  public  schools  were  held  in  the  State,  and  much  work 
in  the  nature  of  propaganda  was  done.  At  a  convention 
in  1838  a  committee  was  appointed  to  prepare  an  "Address 
to  the  People  of  New  Jersey"  on  the  educational  needs  of 
the  State,  and  speakers  were  sent  over  the  State  to  talk  to 
the  people  on  the  subject.  That  "every  free  State  must 
provide  for  the  education  of  all  its  children"  was  held  to 
be  axiomatic.  The  pauper-school  idea  was  vigorously  con- 
demned.    Concerning  this  the  "Address"  said: 

We  utterly  repudiate  as  unworthy,  not  of  freemen  only,  but  of 
men,  the  narrow  notion  that  there  is  to  be  an  education  for  the 
poor  as  such.  Has  God  provided  for  the  poor  a  coarser  earth,  a 
thinner  air,  a  paler  sky?  Does  not  the  glorious  sun  pour  down  his 
golden  flood  as  cheerily  on  the  poor  man's  hovel  as  upon  the  rich 
man's  palace?  Have  not  the  cotter's  children  as  keen  a  sense  of 
all  the  freshness,  verdure,  fragrance,  melody,  and  beauty  of  luxu- 
riant nature  as  the  pale  sons  of  kings?  Or  is  it  on  the  mind  that 
God  has  stamped  the  imprint  of  a  baser  birth,  so  that  the  poor 
man's  child  knows  with  an  inborn  certainty  that  his  lot  is  to  crawl, 
not  climb?  It  is  not  so.  God  has  not  done  it.  Man  cannot  do 
it.  Mind  is  immortal.  Mind  is  imperial.  It  bears  no  mark  of 
high  or  low,  of  rich  or  poor.  It  asks  but  freedom.  It  requires  but 
light. 

The  campaign  against  the  pauper  school  had  just  been 
fought  to  a  conclusion  in  Pennsylvania,  and  the  result  of 
the  appeal  in  New  Jersey  was  such  a  popular  manifestation 
in  favor  of  free  schools  that  the  legislature  of  1838  insti- 
tuted a  partial  state  school  system.  The  pauper-school 
laws  were  repealed,  and  the  best  features  of  the  short-lived 
Law  of  1829  were  reenacted.  In  1844  a  new  state  constitu- 
tion limited  the  income  of  the  permanent  state  school  fund 
exclusively  to  the  support  of  public  schools. 

With  the  pauper-school  idea  eliminated  from  Pennsylvania 


BATTLE  FOR  FREE  STATE  SCHOOLS  147 

and  New  Jersey,  the  North  was  through  with  it.  The  wis- 
dom of  its  elimination  soon  became  evident,  and  we  hear 
little  more  of  it  among  Northern  people.  The  democratic 
West  never  tolerated  it.  It  continued  some  time  longer  in 
Maryland,  Virginia,  and  Georgia,  and  at  places  for  a  time 
in  other  Southern  States,  but  finally  disappeared  in  the 
South  as  well  in  the  educational  reorganizations  which  took 
place  following  the  close  of  the  Civil  War. 

3.  The  battle  to  make  the  schools  entirely  free 

The  schools  not  yet  free.  The  rate-bill,  as  we  have  pre- 
viously stated,  was  an  old  institution,  also  brought  over 
from  England,  as  the  term  "rate"  signifies.  It  was,  as  we 
have  said,  a  charge  levied  upon  the  parent  to  supplement 
the  school  revenues  and  prolong  the  school  term,  and  was 
assessed  in  proportion  to  the  number  of  children  sent  by  each 
parent  to  the  school.  In  some  States,  as  for  example  Mas- 
sachusetts and  Connecticut,  its  use  went  back  to  colonial 
times;  in  others  it  was  added  as  the  cost  for  education  in- 
creased, and  it  was  seen  that  the  income  from  permanent 
funds  and  authorized  taxation  was  not  sufficient  to  maintain 
the  school  the  necessary  length  of  time.  The  deficiency 
in  revenue  was  charged  against  the  parents  sending  chil- 
dren to  school,  pro  rata,  and  collected  as  ordinary  tax-bills. 
The  charge  was  small,  but  it  was  sufficient  to  keep  many 
poor  children  away  from  the  schools. 

This  is  well  illustrated  by  the  case  of  New  York  City, 
where  The  Public  School  Society,  finding  its  funds  inade- 
quate to  meet  its  growing  responsibilities,  attempted,  in 
1826,  to  raise  additional  funds  by  adding  the  rate-bill  for 
those  who  could  afford  to  pay.  The  rates  were  moderate, 
as  may  be  seen  from  the  following  schedule  of  charges: 

Per  quarter 

For  the  Alphabet,  Spelling,  and  Writing  on  Slates,  as  far  as  the 
3d  Class,  inclusive $0 .  25 

Continuance  of  above,  with  Reading  and  Arithmetical  Tables, 
or  the  4th,  5th,  and  6th Classes 0.50 


148         EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

Continuance  of  last,  with  Writing  on  Paper,  Arithmetic,  and 
Definitions,  or  the  7th,  8th,  and  9th  Classes 1 .00 

The  preceding,  with  Grammar,  Geography,  with  the  use  of  Maps 
and  Globes,  Bookkeeping,  History,  Composition,  Mensuration, 
Astronomy,  etc. . 2.00 

No  additional  charge  for  Needlework,  nor  for  Fuel,  Books,  or 
Stationery. 

Two  days  before  the  system  went  into  effect  there  were 
3457  pupils  in  the  schools  of  the  Society,  six  months  later 
there  were  but  2999,  while  the  number  taking  the  $2  per 
quarter  studies  dropped  from  137  to  13.  The  amount  re- 
ceived from  fees  in  1826  was  $4426,  but  by  1831  this  had 
fallen  to  $1366.  What  to  do  was  obvious,  and,  securing  ad- 
ditional funds,  the  schools  were  made  absolutely  free  again 
in  1832. 

The  rising  cities,  with  their  new  social  problems,  could 
not  and  would  not  tolerate  the  rate-bill  system,  and  one  by 
one  they  secured  special  laws  from  legislatures  which  en- 
abled them  to  organize  a  city  school  system,  separate  from 
city  council  control,  and  under  a  local  "board  of  educa- 
tion." One  of  the  provisions  of  these  special  laws  nearly 
always  was  the  right  to  levy  a  city  tax  for  schools  sufficient 
to  provide  free  education  for  the  children  of  the  city. 

In  New  York  State,  to  illustrate,  we  find  special  legis- 
lation, which  provided  free  schools  for  the  city,  enacted  as 
follows : 

1832.  New  York  City.  1848.  Syracuse. 

1838.  Buffalo.  1849.  Troy. 

1841.  Hudson.  1850.  Auburn. 

1841.  Rochester.  1853.  Oswego. 

1843.  Brooklyn.  1853.  Utica. 
1843.  Williamsburg. 

The  State  of  New  York  did  not  provide  for  free  schools; 
generally  until  1867.  In  other  States,  it  might  be  added,, 
that  the  schools  in  Providence,  Baltimore,  Charleston,, 
Mobile,  New  Orleans,  Louisville,  Cincinnati,  Chicago,  and 
Detroit  were  free  for  about  a  quarter-century  before  the 
coming  of  free  state  schools. 


BATTLE  FOR  FREE  STATE  SCHOOLS  149 

The  fight  against  the  rate-bill  in  New  York.  The  attempt 
to  abolish  the  rate-bill  and  make  the  schools  wholly  free  was 
most  vigorously  contested  in  New  York  State,  and  the  con- 
test there  is  most  easily  described.  From  1828  to  1868,  this 
tax  on  the  parents  produced  an  average  annual  sum  of  $410,- 
685.66,  or  about  one  half  of  the  sum  paid  all  the  teachers  of 
the  State  for  salary.  While  the  wealthy  districts  were  se- 
curing special  legislation  and  taxing  themselves  to  provide 
free  schools  for  their  children,  the  poorer  and  less  populous 
districts  were  left  to  struggle  to  maintain  their  schools  the 
four  months  each  year  necessary  to  secure  state  aid.  Fi- 
nally, after  much  agitation,  and  a  number  of  appeals  to  the 
legislature  to  assume  the  rate-bill  charges  in  the  form  of  gen- 
eral state  taxation,  and  thus  make  the  schools  entirely  free, 
the  legislature,  in  1849,  referred  the  matter  back  to  the 
people  to  be  voted  on  at  the  elections  that  autumn.  The 
legislature  was  to  be  thus  advised  by  the  people  as  to  what 
action  it  should  take.  The  result  was  a  state-wide  cam- 
paign for  free,  public,  tax-supported  schools,  as  against 
partially  free,  rate-bill  schools. 

The  result  of  the  1849  election  was  a  vote  of  249,872  in 
favor  of  making  "the  property  of  the  State  educate  the  chil- 
dren of  the  State,"  and  91,952  against  it.  This  only  seemed 
to  stir  the  opponents  of  free  schools  to  renewed  action,  and 
they  induced  the  next  legislature  to  resubmit  the  question  for 
another  vote,  in  the  autumn  of  1850. 

The  result  of  the  referendum  of  1850  is  shown  on  the  next 
map.  The  opponents  of  tax-supported  schools  now  mus- 
tered their  full  strength,  doubling  their  vote  in  1849,  while 
the  majority  for  free  schools  was  materially  cut  down.  The 
interesting  thing  shown  on  this  map  was  the  clear  and  un- 
mistakable voice  of  the  cities.  They  would  not  tolerate 
the  rate-bill,  and,  despite  their  larger  property  interests, 
they  favored  tax-supported  free  schools.  The  rural  dis- 
tricts, on  the  other  hand,  strange  to  say,  opposed  the  idea. 

We  have  here  clearly  set  forth  a  growing  conflict  between 
city  and  rural  interests,  in  matters  of  education,  which  con- 


150 


EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 


tinued  to  become  more  acute  with  time.  The  cities  de- 
manded educational  progress  and  were  determined  to  have 
it,  regardless  of  cost.     If  it  could  be  had  by  general  legisla- 


|  |  For  Free  Schools 


.'••  •:':':':  ;|  Against  Free  Schools 
IMIiimiii  N.  Y.  C.  &  H. R.  Ry. 


Fig.  28.  The  New  York  Referendum  of  1850 

Total  vote:  For  free  schools,  17  counties  and  209,346  voters;  against  free  schools,  42  counties 
and  184,308  voters. 

tion,  in  which  the  whole  State  shared,  well  and  good;  if  not, 
then  special  laws  and  special  taxing  privileges  would  be 
sought  and  obtained.  The  result  of  this  attitude,  clearly 
shown  in  the  New  York  referendum  of  1850,  was  that  the 
substantial  progress  in  almost  every  phase  of  public  educa- 
tion during  the  second  half  of  the  nineteenth  century  was 
made  by  the  cities  of  our  country,  while  the  rural  districts 
lagged  far  behind. 


BATTLE  FOR  FREE  STATE  SCHOOLS  151 

The  rate-bill  in  other  States.  These  two  referenda  vir- 
tually settled  the  question  in  New  York,  though  for  a  time 
a  compromise  was  adopted.  The  state  appropriation  for 
schools  was  very  materially  increased,  the  rate-bill  was  re- 
tained, and  the  organization  of  "union  districts"  to  provide 
free  schools  by  local  taxation  where  people  desired  them  was 
authorized.  Many  of  these  "union  free  districts'*  now 
arose  in  the  more  progressive  communities  of  the  State,  and 
finally,  in  1867,  after  rural  and  other  forms  of  opposition 
had  largely  subsided,  and  after  almost  all  the  older  States 
had  abandoned  the  plan,  the  New  York  legislature  finally 
abolished  the  rate-bill  and  made  the  schools  of  New  York 
entirely  free. 

The  dates  for  the  abolition  of  the  rate-bill  in  the  other 
older  Northern  States  were: 

1834.  Pennsylvania.  1867.  New  York. 

1852.  Indiana.  1868.  Connecticut. 

1853.  Ohio.  1868.  Rhode  Island. 
1855.  Illinois.  1869.  Michigan. 
1864.  Vermont.  1871.  New  Jersey. 

The  New  York  fight  of  1849  and  1850  was  the  pivotal  fight; 
in  the  other  States  it  was  abandoned  by  legislative  act, 
and  without  a  serious  contest.  In  the  Southern  States  free 
education  came  with  the  educational  reorganizations  fol- 
lowing the  close  of  the  Civil  War. 

Other  school  charges.  Another  per-capita  tax  usually 
levied  on  parents,  in  the  early  days  of  public  education,  was 
the  fuel  or  wood  tax.  Unless  each  parent  had  hauled,  or 
paid  some  one  to  do  so,  his  proper  "quota  of  wood"  to  the 
schoolhouse  during  the  summer,  it  was  assessed  against  him 
as  was  the  rate-bill.  This  was  vexatious,  because  small, 
and  often  hard  to  collect.  Finally  State  after  State  aban- 
doned the  charge  and  assessed  it,  with  other  necessary  ex- 
penses, against  the  property  of  the  school  district,  thus  mak- 
ing wood  or  coal  a  public  charge. 

The  provision  of  textbooks  has  been  another  charge  gradu« 
ally  assumed  by  cities  and  States.     The  earliest  provision 


152  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

of  free  textbooks,  as  in  the  case  of  free  schooling,  was  made 
by  the  cities.  The  earliest  city  to  provide  free  textbooks 
was  probably  Philadelphia,  in  1818.  New  Hampshire  or- 
dered free  textbooks  for  indigent  children  as  early  as  1827. 
Jersey  City  began  to  provide  free  textbooks  in  1830,  and 
Newark  in  1838.  Charleston,  South  Carolina,  began  in 
1856;  and  Elizabeth  and  Hoboken,  New  Jersey,  some  time 
before  1860.  Massachusetts  gave  permission  to  furnish 
free  textbooks  in  1873,  and  made  them  obligatory  in  1884. 
Maine  followed  in  1889,  and  New  Hampshire  in  1890.  Many 
other  States  have  since  ordered  free  textbooks  provided 
for  their  schools. 

Free  school  supplies  —  pens,  ink,  paper,  pencils  —  have 
also  been  shifted  gradually  from  an  individual  charge  to 
general  taxation,  and,  within  recent  years,  as  we  shall  see 
in  later  chapters,  many  new  charges  have  been  assumed 
by  the  public  as  in  the  interests  of  better  school  edu- 
cation. 

QUESTIONS  FOR  DISCUSSION 

1.  Explain  the  theory  of  "vested  rights"  as  applied  to  private  and 
parochial  schools. 

2.  How  do  you  explain  the  intense  bitterness  developed  over  the  transi- 
tion from  Church  to  State  education? 

3.  Take  each  of  the  leading  arguments  advanced  for  tax-supported  state 
schools  and  show  its  validity,  viewed  from  a  modern  standpoint. 

4.  Take  each  of  the  leading  arguments  advanced  against  tax-supported 
state  schools  and  show  its  weakness,  viewed  from  a  modern  stand- 
point. 

5.  Does  every  great  advance  in  provisions  for  human  welfare  require  a 
period  of  education  and  propaganda?    Illustrate. 

6.  Explain  why  the  legislatures  were  so  unwilling  to  follow  their  gover- 
nors in  the  matter  of  establishing  schools. 

7.  What  items  have  gone  into  the  building  up  of  the  permanent  state 
school  fund  in  your  State?  What  are  its  present  total  and  per-capita- 
income  values? 

8.  What  is  the  size  of  the  permanent  state  school  fund  in  your  State, 
bow  is  its  income  apportioned,  and  what  percentage  of  the  total  cost 
per  pupil  each  year  does  it  pay? 

9.  What  has  been  the  history  of  the  development  of  school  taxation  in 
your  State? 


BATTLE  FOR  FREE  STATE  SCHOOLS  153 

10.  Explain  just  what  is  meant  by  "the  wealth  of  the  State  must  educate 
the  children  of  the  State." 

11.  Show  how,  with  the  beginnings  of  state  support,  general  state  require- 
ments could  be  enforced  for  the  first  time. 

12.  Show  how  the  retention  of  the  pauper-school  idea  would  have  been 
dangerous  to  the  life  of  the  Republic. 

13.  Why  were  the  cities  more  anxious  to  escape  from  the  operation  of  the 
pauper-school  law  than  were  the  towns  and  rural  districts? 

14.  Why  were  the  pauper-school  and  rate-bill  so  hard  to  eliminate? 

15.  Enumerate  the  items  furnished  free,  in  your  State,  in  addition  to 
tuition. 

TOPICS  FOR  INVESTIGATION  AND  REPORT 

1.  Thaddeus  Stevens  and  the  Pennsylvania  school  law  of  1834.  (Monroe; 
Stevens;  Wickersham.) 

2.  Caleb  Mills  and  the  Indiana  awakening.  (Barnard;  Boone.) 

3.  A  comparison  of  educational  development  in  Ohio  and  Indiana  before 
1850.    (Boone;  Miller;  Orth;  Rawles.) 

4.  The  fight  for  free  schools  in  New  Jersey.  (Murray.) 

5.  Use  of  the  lottery  for  school  endowment  and  support. 
0.  History  of  the  Connecticut  state  school  fund. 

7.  History  of  the  New  York  state  school  fund. 

8.  Work  of  the  western  Academic  and  Literary  Institutes. 

SELECTED  REFERENCES 

Barnard,  Henry,  Editor.      The  American  Journal  of  Education,  31  vols. 

Consult  Analytical  Index  to;  128  pp.  Published  by  United  States  Bureau 

of  Education,  Washington,  1892. 
Boone,  R.  G.    Education  in  the  United  States.    402  pp.    D.  Appleton  &  Co., 

New  York,  1889. 

Chapter  VI  forms  good  supplemental  reading  on  the  formation  of  permanent  school  funds. 
*Boone,  R.  G.     History  of  Education  in  Indiana.    454  pp.     D.  Appleton 

&  Co.,  New  York,  1892. 

Chapters  VIII  and  IX  give  very  good  descriptions  of  the  awakening,  the  enactment 
of  the  law  of  1848,  and  the  referendum  of  1349. 

*Fairlie,  John  A.  Centralization  of  Administration  in  New  York  State. 
Columbia  University  Studies  in  History,  Economics,  and  Public  Law, 
vol  xi,  No.  3,  New  York,  1898. 

Chapter  II  describes  briefly  the  centralizing  tendencies  in  educational  administration 
in  New  York  State. 

Mayo,  Rev.  A  D.  "Original  Establishment  of  State  School  Funds"; 
in  Report  of  the  United  States  Commissioner  of  Education,  1874-95,  vol.  n, 
pp.  1505-11. 

A  brief  descriptive  article. 


154  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

*Miller,  E.  A.  History  of  Educational  Legislation  in  Ohio,  1803-1850.  286 
pp.    University  of  Chicago  Press,  1918. 

A  good  digest  of  educational  legislation  and  progress. 

*Monroe,  Paul.  Cyclopedia  of  Education.  The  Macmillan  Co.,  New  York, 
1911-13.  5  vols. 

The  following  articles  form  good  supplemental  references: 

1.  "District  of  Columbia";  vol.  n,  pp.  342-45. 

2.  "Philadelphia,  City  of";  vol.  iv,  pp.  666-67. 

3.  "School  Funds";  vol.  v,  pp.  269-73. 

4.  The  historical  portions  of  the  articles  on  state  school  systems,  such  as  Indiana, 

New  York,  Ohio,  Pennsylvania,  etc. 

Murray,  David.  History  of  Education  in  New  Jersey.  344  pp.  United 
States  Bureau  of  Education,  Circular  of  Information,  No.  1,  Washing- 
ton, 1899. 

Chapter  III  describes  the  struggle  to  establish  free  schools  in  New  Jersey. 

*Orth,  S.  P.  Centralization  of  Administration  in  Ohio;  Columbia  Univer- 
sity, Studies  in  History,  Economics,  and  Public  Law,  vol.  xvi,  No.  3, 
New  York,  1903. 

Chapter  II  gives  a  good  sketch  of  the  centralization  in  educational  affairs,  and  the 
development  of  taxation  for  education. 

*Randall,  S.  S.  The  Common  School  System  of  the  State  of  New  York. 
94  pp.    Troy,  New  York,  1851. 

An  old  classic,  now  out  of  print,  but  still  found  in  many  libraries.     Pages  72-79  de- 
scribe the  battle  to  abolish  the  rate-bill  in  New  York. 

*Rawles,  W.  A.  Centralizing  Tendencies  in  the  Administration  of  Indiana. 
Columbia  University  Studies  in  History,  Economics,  and  Public  Law, 
vol.  xvii,  No.  1,  New  York,  1903. 

Pages  26  to  141  very  good  on  the  development  of  educational  administration  in 
Indiana. 

*Stevens,  Thaddeus.  "Speech  in  defense  of  the  Pennsylvania  Free  School 
System";  in  Report  of  the  United  States  Commissioner  of  Education,  1898- 
99,  vol.  i,  pp.  516-24. 

Historical  note,  and  the  speech  made  in  the  Pennsylvania  House  of  Representatives, 
in  1835,  in  opposition  to  the  attempt  to  repeal  the  Law  of  1834. 

*Wickersham,  J.  P.  A  History  of  Education  in  Pennsylvania.  683  pp. 
Lancaster,  Pa.,  1886. 

A  very  valuable  volume,  now  somewhat  rare.     Chapters  XIII,  XV,  and   XVI  verf 
good  on  pauper  education  and  the  fight  to  establish  free  schools. 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE  BATTLE  TO  CONTROL  THE  SYSTEM 

II.  Phases  of  the  Battle  for  State-Supported  Schools 
—  continued 

4..  The  battle  to  establish  school  supervision 
Local  nature  of  all  early  schools.  The  history  of  our  edu- 
cational evolution  as  so  far  described  must  have  clearly  re- 
vealed to  the  reader  how  completely  local  the  evolution  of 
schools  has  been  with  us.  Everywhere  development  has 
been  from  the  community  outward  and  upward,  and  not 
from  the  State  downward.  At  first  the  schools  were  those 
of  individual  teachers,  churches,  philanthropic  societies, 
towns,  or  districts,  organized  and  maintained  without  any 
thought  of  connection  or  state  relationship.  Even  in  Massa- 
chusetts and  Connecticut  the  local  nature  of  the  education 
provided  was  one  of  its  marked  characteristics. 

After  the  New  England  towns,  in  response  to  the  demand 
for  greater  local  rights  and  local  control  of  affairs,  had  split 
their  town  governments  up  into  fragments,  known  at  first  as 
parishes  and  later  as  school  districts,  as  described  in  Chap- 
ter II,  and  after  the  Massachusetts  district  school  system 
thus  evolved  had  been  con6rmed  in  the  new  state  laws 
(1789)  it  spread  to  other  States,  and  soon  became  the  almost 
universal  unit  for  school  organization  and  control.  The 
reasons  for  its  early  popularity  are  not  hard  to  find.  It  was 
well  suited  to  the  primitive  needs  and  conditions  of  our 
early  national  life.  Among  a  sparse  and  hard-working  rural 
population,  between  whom  intercourse  was  limited  and  in- 
tercommunication difficult,  and  with  whom  the  support  of 
schools  by  taxation  was  as  yet  an  unsettled  question,  it 
answered  a  very  real  need.  The  simplicity  and  democracy 
of  the  system  was  one  of  its  chief  merits.    Communities  or 


156  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

neighborhoods  which  wanted  schools  and  were  willing  to 
pay  for  them  could  easily  meet  and  organize  a  school  dis- 
trict, vote  to  levy  a  school  tax  on  their  own  property,  em- 
ploy a  teacher,  and  organize  and  maintain  a  school.  On 
the  other  hand,  communities  which  did  not  desire  schools 
or  were  unwilling  to  tax  themselves  for  them  could  do  with- 
out them,  and  let  the  free-school  idea  alone.  The  first  state 
laws  generally,  as  we  have  pointed  out  in  Chapter  V,  were 
permissive  in  nature  and  not  mandatory,  and  under  these 
permissive  laws  the  progressive  communities  of  each  State 
gradually  organized  a  series  of  local  schools.  These  have 
since  been  brought  together  into  township,  county,  and  state 
organizations  to  form  the  state  systems  which  we  know 
to-day. 

The  schools  thus  established  would  naturally  retain  their 
local  character  so  long  as  their  support  was  entirely  local. 
Schools  might  even  be  ordered  established,  as  in  the  case  of 
the  town  schools  of  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut,  or  the 
pauper  schools  of  Pennsylvania,  and,  so  long  as  the  State 
contributed  nothing  to  their  maintenance,  their  organiza- 
tion, management,  and  control  would  almost  of  necessity 
be  left  to  local  initiative.  The  more  progressive  commu- 
nities would  obey  the  law  and  provide  schools  supported 
largely  or  wholly  by  taxation;  the  unwilling  communities 
would  either  ignore  the  law  or  provide  schools  dependent 
upon  tuition  fees  and  rate-bills. 

Beginnings  of  state  control.  The  great  battle  for  state 
schools,  which  we  have  briefly  described  in  the  preceding 
chapter,  was  not  only  for  taxation  to  stimulate  their  devel- 
opment where  none  existed,  but  was  also  indirectly  a  battle 
for  some  form  of  state  control  of  the  local  systems  which  had 
already  grown  up.  The  establishment  of  permanent  state 
school  funds  by  the  older  States,  to  supplement  any  other 
aid  which  might  be  granted,  also  tended  toward  the  estab- 
lishment of  some  form  of  state  supervision  and  control  of  the 
local  school  systems.  Under  the  early  permissive  laws  all 
state  aid  for  schools  might  of  course  be  rejected,  and  fre- 


BATTLE  TO  CONTROL  THE  SYSTEM  157 

quently  was,  and  usually  large  option  and  power  of  initia- 
tive had  at  first  to  be  left  to  the  local  units,  but  the  State, 
once  any  aid  from  permanent  state  endowment  funds  or  any 
form  of  state  taxation  was  accepted  by  a  community  school 
system,  was  now  in  position  to  make  and  enforce  demands 
in  return  for  the  state  aid  granted.  In  return  for  the  state 
aid  accepted  the  local  school  authorities  must  now  make 
reports  as  to  attendance,  length  of  term,  kind  of  teacher, 
and  income  and  expenses,  and  must  comply  with  the  re- 
quirements of  the  state  school  laws  as  to  district  meetings, 
levying  of  local  taxes  to  supplement  the  state  aid,  subjects 
to  be  taught,  certificate  for  the  teacher,  and  other  similar 
matters.  The  acceptance  of  state  aid  inevitably  meant  a 
small  but  a  gradually  increasing  state  control.  The  first  step 
was  the  establishment  of  some  form  of  state  aid;  the  next  was 
the  imposing  of  conditions  necessary  to  secure  this  state  aid. 

State  oversight  and  control,  however,  does  not  exercise 
itself,  and  it  soon  became  evident  that  the  States  must 
elect  or  appoint  some  officer  to  represent  the  State  and  en- 
force the  observance  of  its  demands.  It  would  be  primarily 
his  duty  to  see  that  the  laws  relating  to  schools  were  carried 
out,  that  statistics  as  to  existing  conditions  were  collected 
and  printed,  and  that  communities  were  properly  advised  as 
to  their  duties  and  the  legislature  as  to  the  needs  of  .the  State. 
We  find  now  the  creation  of  a  series  of  school  officers  to 
represent  the  State,  the  enactment  of  new  laws  extending 
control,  and  a  struggle  to  integrate,  subordinate,  and  reduce 
to  some  semblance  of  a  state  school  system  the  hundreds 
of  community  school  systems  which  had  grown  up.  The 
communities  were  usually  very  willing  to  accept  the  state 
aid  offered,  but  many  of  them  resented  bitterly  any  attempt 
to  curb  their  power  to  do  as  they  pleased,  or  to  force  them 
to  make  reports  and  meet  general  state  requirements. 

The  first  state  school  officers.  The  first  American  State 
to  create  a  state  officer  to  exercise  supervision  over  its  schools 
was  New  York,  in  1812.  It  will  be  remembered  that  this 
State  had  enacted  an  experimental  school  law,  and  made  an 


158  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

annual  state  grant  for  schools,  from  1795  to  1800.  Then, 
unable  to  re  enact  the  law,  the  system  was  allowed  to  lapse 
and  was  not  reestablished  until  the  New  England  element 
gained  control,  in  1812.  In  enacting  the  new  law  providing 
for  state  aid  for  schools  the  first  State  Superintendent  of 
Common  Schools  in  the  United  States  was  created.  So  far 
as  is  known  this  was  a  distinctively  American  creation,  unin- 
fluenced by  the  practice  in  any  other  land.  It  was  to  be 
the  duty  of  this  officer  to  look  after  the  establishment  and 
maintenance  of  the  schools  throughout  the  State.  By  his 
vigorous  work  in  behalf  of  schools  the  first  appointee, 
Gideon  Hawley,  gave  such  offense  to  the  politicians  of  the 
time  that  he  was  removed  from  office,  in  1821,  and  the 
legislature  then  abolished  the  position  and  designated  the 
Secretary  of  State  to  act,  ex  officio,  as  Superintendent.  This 
condition  continued  until  1854,  when  New  York  again 
created  the  separate  office  of  Superintendent  of  Public  In- 
struction. Maryland  created  the  office  in  1826,  but  two 
years  later  abolished  it  and  did  not  re-create  it  until  1864. 
Illinois  directed  its  Secretary  of  State  to  act,  ex  officio,  as 
Superintendent  of  Schools  in  1825,  as  did  also  Vermont  in 
1827,  Louisiana  in  1833,  Pennsylvania  in  1834,  and  Tennes- 
see in  1835.  Illinois  did  not  create  a  real  State  Superintend- 
ent of  Schools,  though,  until  1854,  Vermont  until  1845, 
Louisiana  until  1847,  Pennsylvania  until  1857,  or  Tennes- 
see until  1867. 

The  first  States  to  create  separate  school  officials  who 
have  been  continued  to  the  present  time  were  Michigan 
and  Kentucky,  both  in  1837.  Influenced  by  Cousin's  Re- 
port (Chapter  IX)  on  the  organization  of  schools  in  Prussia, 
the  leaders  in  the  Michigan  constitutional  convention  of 
1835  —  Pierce  and  Crary  —  insisted  on  the  title  of  Super- 
intendent of  Public  Instruction  and  on  constitutional  pro- 
visions which  would  insure,  from  an  administrative  point 
of  view,  a  state  school  system  rather  than  a  series  of  local 
systems  of  schools.  Kentucky,  on  the  other  hand,  evolved, 
as  had  New  York,  a  purely  American-type  official,  known 


BATTLE  TO  CONTROL  THE  SYSTEM  159 

as  Superintendent  of  Common  Schools.  The  Michigan 
title  in  time  came  to  be  the  one  commonly  used,  though  few 
States  in  adopting  it  have  been  aware  of  its  Prussian  origin. 
Other  States  followed  these,  creating  a  state  school  officer 
under  one  of  a  number  of  titles,  and  in  some  States,  such 
as  Connecticut,  Ohio,  Iowa,  and  Missouri,  the  office  was 
created,  abolished,  and  re-created  one  or  more  times  before 
it  became  permanently  established.  Often  quite  a  legisla- 
tive struggle  took  place  to  secure  the  establishment  of  the 
office,  and  later  on  to  prevent  its  abolition. 


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Fio.  29.  Status  of  School  Supervision  in  the  United  States  by  1861 

For  a  list  of  the  28  City  Superintendences  established  up  to  1870,  see  Cubberley's  Public 
School  Administration,  p.  58.  For  the  history  of  the  state  educational  office  in  each  State 
see  Cubberley  and  Elliott,  Stale  and  County  School  Administration,  Source  Book,  pp.  283-87. 

By  1850  there  were  ex-officio  state  school  officers  in  nine, 
and  regular  school  officers  in  seven,  of  the  then  thirty-one 
States,  and  by  1861  there  were  ex-officio  officers  in  nine  and 
regular  officers  in  nineteen  of  the  then  thirty-four  States, 
as  well  as  one  of  each  in  two  of  the  organized  Territories. 
The  above  map  shows  the  growth  of  supervisory  oversight 
by  1861  —  forty -nine  years  from  the  time  the  first  American 


160  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

state  school  officer  was  created.  The  map  also  shows  the 
ten  of  the  thirty-four  States  which  had,  by  1861,  also  created 
the  office  of  County  Superintendent  of  Schools,  as  well  as 
the  twenty-five  cities  which  had,  by  1861,  created  the  office 
of  City  Superintendent  of  Schools.  Only  three  more  cities 
—  Albany,  Washington,  and  Kansas  City  —  were  added 
before  1870,  making  a  total  of  twenty-eight,  but  since  that 
date  the  number  of  city  superintendents  has  increased  to 
something  like  fourteen  hundred  to-day. 

Early  duties;  selection  by  election.  The  office  of  State 
Superintendent  of  Common  Schools,  Superintendent  of 
Free  Schools,  Superintendent  of  Education,  Superintendent 
of  Public  Instruction,  or  Commissioner  of  Education  — 
terms  which  are  significant  of  the  educational  evolution 
through  which  we  have  passed  —  was  thus  evolved  with  us 
to  represent  the  State  in  its  dealings  with  the  local  school 
systems  to  which  it  now  proposed  to  extend  some  financial 
aid.  At  the  time  the  office  arose  there  were  few  of  our 
present-day  problems  to  be  solved,  and  the  early  functions 
attached  to  the  office  were  almost  exclusively  clerical,  statis- 
tical, and  exhortatory.  These  early  functions  have  become 
crystallized  in  the  laws  and  have  formed  the  traditions  of 
the  office.  Even  more  have  they  formed  the  traditions  of 
the  office  of  County  Superintendent  of  Schools.  To  collect, 
tabulate,  and  edit  the  school  statistics  as  to  attendance, 
teachers,  term,  and  finances  demanded  by  the  law;  to  ad- 
vise as  to  the  law;  to  apportion  the  state  aid  to  the  school 
districts;  to  visit  the  different  counties  and  advise  the  local 
school  authorities;  to  exhort  the  people  to  found  and  improve 
their  schools;  and  to  advise  the  legislature  as  to  the  condi- 
tion and  needs  of  the  schools,  —  these  constituted  the  chief 
duties  of  these  early  officials.  With  time,  and  with  the 
gradual  change  in  the  popular  conception  as  to  the  place  and 
purpose  of  public  education,  so  many  new  duties  have  been 
added  to  the  office  that  it  has  now  come  to  be  conceived  of 
in  an  entirely  new  light. 

The  creation  of  these  new  state  officials  came  just  at  the 


BATTLE  TO  CONTROL  THE  SYSTEM  161 

time  when  the  rising  democratic  consciousness  and  distrust 
of  legislatures  and  governors  had  reached  its  height,  and 
when  the  belief  in  the  ability  of  the  people  to  select  all  their 
public  servants  had  reached,  with  the  general  attainment 
of  full  manhood  suffrage,  a  maximum.  The  appointed  city 
school  superintendent  had  not  as  yet  arisen  to  point  the 
way  to  a  better  method  of  selection,  —  there  were  but  ten 
such  in  the  United  States  by  1850,  —  the  analogy  to  a  state 
auditor  or  a  county  clerk  seemed  clear,  the  expert  functions 
which  now  ought  to  characterize  the  office  had  not  devel- 
oped, and  nomination  and  election  by  the  people  seemed  the 
perfectly  natural  method  to  follow.  In  consequence,  al- 
most everywhere  these  new  state  and  county  officials  were 
placed  in  the  elective  column,  instead  of  being  appointed 
to  office.  Even  in  the  cities  the  elective  method  was  at 
first  tried,  though  all  but  one  have  now  discarded  it  as  a 
means  for  selecting  a  city  superintendent  of  schools.  In 
the  earlier  period,  when  the  duties  of  these  new  officials 
were  far  simpler  than  they  now  are,  and  when  almost  no 
professional  functions  had  arisen,  the  elective  method  of 
choosing  a  person  to  fill  these  educational  offices  naturally 
gave  much  better  results  than  it  does  to-day.  Only  in  New 
England  was  a  better  method  followed  from  the  first. 

Curbing  the  district  system.  One  of  the  chief  duties  of 
these  early  state  school  officials,  aside  from  the  collection 
of  statistics  and  exhorting  the  people  to  establish  and  main- 
tain schools,  was  that  of  trying  to  institute  some  control 
over  the  local  school  communities,  and  the  introduction 
of  some  uniformity  into  school  practices.  By  the  time  the 
Mates  began  to  create  state  and  county  school  officers,  the 
Massachusetts  district  system,  the  origin  of  which  we  de- 
scribed in  Chapter  II,  had  overrun  the  country.  The  first 
school  law  enacted  by  Massachusetts  (1789)  recognized  and 
legalized  the  district  system  of  school  organization  and  con- 
trol, as  it  had  evolved  in  the  State  during  the  preceding 
hundred  years.  In  1800  the  districts  were  given  full  local 
power  to  tax  for  schools;  in  1817  full  power  was  given  them 


162  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

to  contract  and  to  sue  and  be  sued;  and  in  1827  the  full  cul- 
mination of  the  district  system  was  attained  by  laws  which 
authorized  the  districts  to  select  district  school  trustees, 
and  gave  to  these  trustees  the  power  to  choose  the  textbooks 
and  employ  and  certificate  their  teachers. 

Maine,  Vermont,  New  Hampshire,  Rhode  Island,  and 
Connecticut  also  accepted  the  district  system  early.  It 
spread  to  New  York  in  1812,  and  was  carried  by  New  Eng- 
land people  in  their  great  migration  toward  the  West  and 
South.  Ohio  definitely  accepted  the  district  system  of 
organization  in  1821,  Illinois  in  1825,  Tennessee  in  1830, 
Indiana  in  1833,  Michigan  in  1837,  Kentucky  and  Iowa  in 
1838,  North  Carolina  in  1839,  and  Virginia  in  its  optional 
law  of  1846.  Once  established  amid  pioneer  people  it  be- 
came firmly  rooted,  and  has  since  been  changed  only  after 
much  effort,  though  almost  all  the  conditions  which  gave 
rise  to  it  have  since  passed  away. 

In  most  of  the  States  the  system  soon  ran  rampant.  The 
district  meeting  became  a  forensic  center  in  which  ques- 
tions the  most  remote  and  personal  animosities  of  long 
standing  were  fought  out.  Petty  local  interests  and  a  "  dog- 
in-the-manger  spirit"  too  often  prevailed,  to  the  great  detri- 
ment of  the  schools.  District  jealousies  prevented  needed 
development.  An  exaggerated  idea  of  district  rights,  dis- 
trict importance,  and  district  perfection  became  common. 
District  independence  was  often  carried  to  a  great  extreme. 
In  Massachusetts,  for  example,  Horace  Mann  found  that  in 
two  thirds  of  the  towns  teachers  were  allowed  to  begin  teach- 
ing without  any  examination  or  certification,  and  frequently 
were  paid  without  either;  that  the  trustees  refused  generally 
to  require  uniform  textbooks,  or  to  furnish  them  to  poor 
children,  as  required  by  the  law;  and  that  one  third  of  the 
children  of  school  age  in  the  State  were  absent  from  school 
in  the  winter  and  two  fifths  in  the  summer,  without  the 
trustees  concerning  themselves  in  any  way  about  the  situa- 
tion. In  Ohio  the  trustees  "forbade  the  teaching  of  any 
branches  except  reading,  writing,  and  arithmetic,"  and  in 


BATTLE  TO  CONTROL  THE  SYSTEM  163 

1840  the  early  laws  requiring  schools  in  the  English  language 
were  repealed,  and  the  districts  were  permitted  to  authorize 
schools  in  the  German  language.  In  Indiana  the  system 
went  to  such  an  extreme  as  almost  to  destroy  the  schools. 
In  1836  and  1837  laws  were  passed  which  permitted  house- 
holders to  make  individual  contracts  with  teachers  to  teach 
their  children,  and  in  1841  the  requirement  of  any  form  of 
a  teacher's  certificate  was  made  optional  with  the  district 
trustees.  In  many  States  school  district  trustees  were 
allowed  to  determine  what  subjects  should  be  taught  and 
how,  and  the  people  determined  who  should  teach  and  how 
long  a  term  of  school  should  be  maintained. 

To  enforce  reports  giving  statistics  as  to  the  schools,  to 
enforce  local  taxation  to  supplement  the  state  aid,  to  enforce 
the  requirement  of  some  form  of  a  teacher's  certificate,  to 
see  that  the  school  subjects  required  in  the  law  were  taught 
in  the  schools,  and  that  the  schools  were  maintained  at  least 
the  length  of  time  demanded  by  the  State,  were  among  the 
early  functions  of  these  state,  county,  and  township  school 
superintendents.  All  these  were  important  as  establishing 
some  form  of  state  control  over  the  school  districts,  and 
marked  the  beginnings  of  their  integration  into  a  series  of 
county  and  state  school  systems. 

Creating  supervision  in  Massachusetts.  The  struggle  to 
subordinate  and  control  the  district  system  is  well  illus- 
trated by  the  history  of  Massachusetts.  Once  foremost  in 
general  education,  a  great  decline  had  set  in  after  the  com- 
ing of  statehood,  and  this  decline  continued  steadily  up  to 
about  1826.  The  decline  in  the  importance  of  its  schools 
was  closely  paralleled  by  the  growth  in  importance  of  the 
district  system  of  school  control.  The  growth  of  manu- 
facturing, the  social  changes  in  the  cities,  and  the  philan- 
thropic and  humanitarian  movements  we  have  described  in 
Chapter  IV,  all  tended  in  Massachusetts,  as  elsewhere,  to 
awaken  an  educational  consciousness  and  a  demand  for 
educational  reform.  As  early  as  1821  a  young  Harvard 
graduate  and  teacher,  by  the  name  of  James  G.  Carter 


164  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

(1795-1845),  had  published  a  series  of  Letters  .  .  .  on  the 
Free  Schools  of  New  England.  In  these  letters  the  glaring 
defects  of  the  district  system  and  the  decline  in  importance 
of  the  schools  were  pointed  out.  Deeply  impressed  with 
conditions,  he  soon  became  a  leader  in  educational  propa- 
ganda and  educational  reform. 

The  first  result  of  the  agitation  he  started  was  the  law  of 
1826,  whereby  each  town  (township)  was  required  to  ap- 
point a  Town  School  Committee  (School  Board)  to  exercise 
general  supervision  over  all  the  district  schools  in  the  town, 
select  the  textbooks,  and  examine  and  certificate  all  the 
teachers  employed.  This  law  met  with  bitter  opposition 
from  many  districts,  it  being  regarded  as  an  infringement 
of  district  "rights."  In  1834  the  state  school  fund  was 
created,  and  to  share  in  its  income  all  towns  were  required 
to  raise  a  town  tax  of  one  dollar  per  child  and  to  make  sta- 
tistical reports  as  required.  In  1837  came  the  culmina- 
tion of  Mr.  Carter's  labors,  when  he  secured  passage  of  a 
bill  creating  the  first  real  State  Board  of  Education  in 
the  United  States.  Instead  of  following  the  practice  of 
the  time,  and  creating  an  elected  State  Superintendent  of 
Schools,  Mr.  Carter,  much  more  wisely,  provided  for  a 
small  appointed  State  Board  of  Education  which  in  turn 
was  to  select  a  Secretary,  who  was  to  act  in  the  capacity 
of  a  state  school  officer  and  report  to  the  Board,  and  through 
it  to  the  legislature  and  the  people.  Neither  the  Board  nor 
the  Secretary  were  given  any  powers  of  compulsion,  their 
work  being  to  investigate  conditions,  report  facts,  expose 
defects,  and  make  recommendations  as  to  action  to  the 
legislature.  The  permanence  and  influence  of  the  Board 
thus  depended  very  largely  on  the  character  of  the  Secre- 
tary it  selected. 

The  new  Secretary  and  his  problems.  A  prominent 
Brown  University  graduate  and  lawyer  in  the  State  Senate, 
by  the  name  of  Horace  Mann  (1796-1859),  who  as  president 
of  the  Senate  had  been  of  much  assistance  in  securing  pas- 
sage of  the  bill  creating  the  State  Board  of  Education,  was 


BATTLE  TO  CONTROL  THE  SYSTEM  165 

finally  induced  by  the  Governor  and  the  Board  to  accept 
the  position  of  Secretary.  He  entered  on  his  duties  in  June, 
1837.  The  choice  proved  to  be  a  particularly  fortunate  one, 
as  Mr.  Mann  possessed  the  characteristics  needed  for  such 
an  office  —  enthusiasm,  courage,  vision,  lofty  ideals,  and 
practical  legislative  experience.  Few  State  Superintend- 
ents of  Public  Education  since  his  time  have  risen  to  a 
higher  conception  of  the  importance  of  their  office,  and  his 
career  forms  a  worthy  study  for  any  one  interested  in  educa- 
tional leadership.  He  gave  up  a  promising  career  in  the 
law  and  in  politics  to  accept  the  office  at  a  beggarly  salary 
that  often  left  him  without  money  for  his  dinner,  but,  once 
he  had  made  up  his  mind  to  do  so,  he  entered  upon  the 
work  with  all  the  energy  he  possessed.  To  a  friend  he 
wrote: 

My  law  books  are  for  sale.  My  office  is  to  let.  The  bar  is  no 
longer  my  forum.  I  have  abandoned  jurisprudence  and  betaken 
myself  to  the  larger  sphere  of  mind  and  morals. 

On  the  day  he  accepted  the  office  he  wrote  in  his  diary: 

Henceforth  so  long  as  I  hold  this  office  I  devote  myself  to  the 
supremest  welfare  of  mankind  upon  earth.  ...  I  have  faith  in  the 
improvability  of  the  race  —  in  their  accelerating  improvability. 
This  effort  may  do,  apparently,  but  little.  But  mere  beginning  a 
good  cause  is  never  little.  If  we  can  get  this  vast  wheel  into  any 
perceptible  motion,  we  shall  have  accomplished  much. 

The  problems  which  Mr.  Mann  faced,  growing  out  of  bad 
legislation  in  the  past  and  the  resulting  state  of  affairs,  are 
thus  stated  by  Hinsdale: 

1.  The  whole  State  needed  to  be  thoroughly  aroused  to  the 
importance  and  value  of  public  instruction. 

2.  The  public  schools  needed  to  be  democratized;  that  is,  the 
time  had  more  than  come  when  they  should  be  restored  to  the 
people  of  the  State,  high  as  well  as  low,  in  the  good  old  sense  of 
the  name. 

3.  The  public  necessities  demanded  an  expansion  of  public 
education  in  respect  to  kinds  of  schools  and  range  of  instruction. 

4.  The  legal  school  organization  and  machinery,  as  existing, 


166  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

were  not  in  harmony  with  the  new  social  conditions.     Moreover, 
current  methods  of  administration  were  loose  and  unbusinesslike. 

5.  The  available  school  funds  were  quite  insufficient  for  main- 
taining good  schools,  and  called  loudly  for  augmentation. 

6.  The  schools  were,  to  a  great  extent,  antiquated  and  outgrown 
in  respect  to  the  quantity  and  quality  of  the  instruction  that  they 
furnished,  as  well  as  in  methods  of  teaching,  management,  dis- 
cipline, and  supervision. 

The  work  of  Horace  Mann.  Mr.  Mann  now  began  a 
most  memorable  work  of  educating  public  opinion,  and  soon 
became  the  acknowledged  leader  in  school  organization  in 
the  United  States.  State  after  State  called  upon  him  for 
advice  and  counsel,  while  his  twelve  annual  Reports  to  the 
State  Board  of  Education  will  always  remain  memorable 
documents.  Public  men  of  all  classes  —  lawyers,  clergy- 
men, college  professors,  literary  men,  teachers  —  were  laid 
under  tribute  and  sent  forth  over  the  State  explaining  to  the 
people  the  need  for  a  reawakening  of  educational  interest  in 
Massachusetts.  Every  year  Mr.  Mann  organized  a  "cam- 
paign." It  resembled  somewhat  the  recent  national  cam- 
paign to  explain  to  our  people  the  meaning  and  moral  signifi- 
cance of  our  participation  in  the  World  War  in  Europe. 
So  successful  was  he,  and  so  ripe  was  the  time  for  such  a 
movement,  that  he  not  only  started  a  great  common  school 
revival  in  Massachusetts  which  led  to  the  regeneration  of 
the  schools  there,  but  one  which  was  felt  and  which  influ- 
enced development  in  every  Northern  State. 

His  controversy  with  the  Boston  schoolmasters,  whose 
sensibilities  he  had  wounded  by  his  praise  of  European 
schools,  attracted  much  attention,  made  a  deep  impression 
on  the  public  mind,  and  did  much  to  fix  Mr.  Mann's  place 
in  educational  history.  His  controversy  with  the  religious 
societies  marked  the  beginning  of  the  struggle  in  the  United 
States  for  non-sectarian  schools.  Everywhere  he  preached 
the  doctrine  of  liberal  taxation  for  public  education,  with 
the  result  that  during  the  twelve  years  of  his  secretaryship 
the  appropriations  for  public  education  were  more  than 


Hoi:  LOT  m  \w 

(179«, 
I  painting  in  the  Weatfleld,  Mtuuchiuetta,  Normal  School) 


HENRY  BARNARD 

(1811-1900) 
From  a  picture  taken  about 


BATTLE  TO  CONTROL  THE  SYSTEM  167 

doubled,  salaries  of  teachers  greatly  increased,  and  a  full 
month  added  to  the  length  of  the  school  term.  He  organ- 
ized the  first  three  state  normal  schools  in  America,  and 
some  of  the  earliest  teachers'  institutes.  He  labored  con- 
tinually at  the  improvement  of  teaching  method,  and  espe- 
cially worked  for  the  introduction  of  Pestalozzian  reforms 
and  the  substitution  of  the  word-method  in  teaching  reading 
for  the  slow,  wasteful,  and  unintelligent  alphabet  method. 
He  edited  the  Massachusetts  Common  School  Journal,  wrote 
a  careful  report  on  schoolhouse  hygiene,  introduced  school 
libraries  throughout  the  State,  and  stimulated  the  develop- 
ment of  the  high  school.  In  his  hands  the  printed  "school 
returns,"  first  required  by  the  law  of  1826,  became  "power- 
ful instruments  in  educating  the  public.5'  His  vigorous 
condemnation  of  the  district  system,  to  which  he  devoted 
his  fourth  Report,  contributed  to  its  ultimate  abandonment. 
The  Massachusetts  Law  of  1789,  which  legalized  it,  he 
repeatedly  stated  to  have  been  "the  most  unfortunate  law 
on  the  subject  of  common  schools  ever  enacted  in  the  State," 
and  he  declared  that  "no  substantial  and  general  progress 
can  be  made  so  long  as  the  district  system  exists."  So  en- 
trenched was  the  system  "behind  statutory  rights  and  im- 
memorial usage"  that  it  required  thirty  years  longer  to  free 
the  State  from  its  inimical  influence. 

His  twelve  carefully  written  Reports  on  the  condition  of 
education  in  Massachusetts  and  elsewhere,  with  his  intelli- 
gent discussion  of  the  aims  and  purposes  of  public  educa- 
tion, occupy  a  commanding  place  in  the  history  of  American 
education,  while  he  will  always  be  regarded  as  perhaps  the 
greatest  of  the  "founders"  of  our  American  system  of  free 
public  schools.  No  one  did  more  than  he  to  establish  in 
the  minds  of  the  American  people  the  conception  that  edu- 
cation should  be  universal,  non-sectarian,  and  free,  and  that 
its  aim  should  be  social  efficiency,  civic  virtue,  and  charac- 
ter, rather  than  mere  learning  or  the  advancement  of  sec- 
tarian ends.  Under  his  practical  leadership  an  unorganized 
and  heterogeneous  series  of  community  school  systems  was 


168  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

reduced  to  organization  and  welded  together  into  a  state 
school  system,  and  the  people  of  Massachusetts  were  effec- 
tively recalled  to  their  ancient  belief  in  and  duty  toward 
the  education  of  the  people. 

Henry  Barnard  in  Connecticut  and  Rhode  Island.  Al- 
most equally  important,  though  of  a  somewhat  different 
character,  was  the  work  of  Henry  Barnard  in  Connecticut 
and  Rhode  Island.  A  graduate  of  Yale,  and  also  educated 
for  the  law,  he  turned  aside  to  teach  and  became  deeply 
interested  in  education.  The  years  1835-37  he  spent  in 
Europe  studying  schools,  particularly  the  work  of  Pesta- 
lozzi's  disciples.  On  his  return  to  America  he  was  elected 
a  member  of  the  Connecticut  legislature,  and  at  once  formu- 
lated and  secured  passage  of  the  Connecticut  law  (1839) 
providing  for  a  State  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Common 
Schools,  with  a  Secretary,  after  the  Massachusetts  plan. 
Mr.  Barnard  was  then  elected  as  its  first  Secretary,  and 
reluctantly  gave  up  the  law  and  accepted  the  position  at 
the  munificent  salary  of  $3  a  day  and  expenses.  Until  the 
legislature  abolished  both  the  Board  and  the  position,  in 
1842,  he  rendered  for  Connecticut  a  service  scarcely  less 
important  than  the  better-known  reforms  which  Horace 
Mann  was  at  that  time  carrying  on  in  Massachusetts. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  Connecticut  had  established 
a  state  school  fund  as  early  as  1750,  and  on  the  sale  of  the 
Western  Reserve  for  $1,200,000,  in  1795,  had  added  this 
sum  to  the  fund.  The  fund  experienced  excellent  manage- 
ment, and  by  the  time  of  the  creation  of  the  State  Board 
had  reached  nearly  $2,000,000  in  value,  producing  a  yearly 
income  large  enough  to  pay  a  substantial  portion  of  the  then 
cost  of  maintaining  the  schools.  This  had  made  the  people 
negligent  as  to  taxation,  and  this,  combined  with  the  grow- 
ing strength  of  the  district  system,  led  to  a  decline  in 
interest  in  education  in  Connecticut  similar  to  that  which 
had  taken  place  in  Massachusetts.  The  schools  were  poor, 
private  schools  were  increasing,  the  people  objected  to  taxa- 
tion, the  teachers  were  without  training  or  professional 


BATTLE  TO  CONTROL  THE  SYSTEM         169 

interest,  the  pauper-school  idea  began  to  be  advocated,  and 
a  general  decline  in  educational  affairs  had  set  in.  An 
investigation,  made  in  1838,  showed  that  not  one  half  of 
the  children  of  the  State  were  attending  school.  From 
probably  the  best  schools  of  any  State  at  the  end  of  the 
colonial  period,  the  Connecticut  schools  had  fallen  to  a  very 
inferior  position. 

It  was  the  work  of  Barnard  to  recall  Connecticut  to  her 
ancient  duty.  He  visited  and  inspected  the  schools,  and 
made  many  public  addresses.  In  1839  he  organized  the 
first  teachers'  institute  in  America  which  met  for  more  than 
a  few  days  (his  was  for  six  weeks,  with  daily  instruction  in 
classes),  and  he  used  this  new  instrument  extensively  to 
awaken  the  teachers  of  the  State  to  proper  conceptions  of 
their  work.  He  established  the  Connecticut  Common  School 
Journal  to  disseminate  his  ideas.  He  also  organized  school 
libraries,  and  urged  the  establishment  of  evening  schools. 
He  strove  to  improve  the  physical  condition  of  the  schools 
by  writing  much  on  schoolhouse  construction.  He  studied 
the  "school  returns,"  and  used  the  statistical  data  to  arouse 
interest.  In  1842,  through  the  animus  of  a  governor  who 
objected  to  the  "useless  expense,"  and  the  "dangerous 
innovation"  of  union  schools  to  provide  advanced  educa- 
tion, the  Board  was  abolished,  the  laws  repealed,  and  Mr. 
Barnard  was  legislated  out  of  office. 

In  1843  he  was  called  to  Rhode  Island  to  examine  and 
report  upon  the  existing  schools,  and  from  1845  to  1849 
acted  as  State  Commissioner  of  Public  Schools  there,  where 
he  rendered  a  service  similar  to  that  previously  rendered  in 
Connecticut.  In  addition  he  organized  a  series  of  town 
libraries  throughout  the  State.  For  his  teachers'  institutes 
he  devised  a  traveling  model  school,  to  give  demonstration 
lessons  in  the  art  of  teaching.  From  1851  to  1855  he  was 
again  in  Connecticut,  as  principal  of  the  newly  established 
state  normal  school  and  ex-officio  Secretary  of  the  Connecti- 
cut State  Board  of  Education.  He  now  rewrote  the  school 
laws,  increased  taxation  for  schools,  checked  the  power  of 


170  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

the  districts,  there  known  as  "school  societies,"  and  laid 
the  foundations  of  a  state  system  of  schools. 

Barnard  as  the  scholar  of  the  "  awakening."  In  1855 
he  began  the  editing  of  his  famous  American  Journal  of 
Education,  a  vast  encyclopaedia  of  educational  information 
which  finally  reached  thirty-one  volumes.  In  this  venture 
he  sunk  his  entire  private  fortune,  and  in  his  old  age  was  a 
poor  man.  The  collection  still  remains  a  great  storehouse 
of  educational  information  and  biography,  covering  almost 
every  phase  of  the  history  of  education  from  the  earliest 
times  down  to  1870.  It  gave  to  American  educators,  who 
had  so  long  been  isolated  and  who  had  been  slowly  evolving 
a  thoroughly  native  school  system  out  of  the  English  inher- 
itance, a  needed  conception  of  historical  development  in 
other  lands  and  a  useful  knowledge  of  recent  development 
and  practice  in  other  lands  and  nations.  From  1858  to  1860 
he  served  as  president  of  the  University  of  Wisconsin,  and 
from  1867  to  1870  as  the  first  United  States  Commissioner 
of  Education.  He  published  much,  was  distinctively  the 
scholar  of  the  great  public  school  awakening  of  the  second 
quarter  of  the  nineteenth  century,  and  was  closely  associ- 
ated with  the  most  progressive  movements  in  American 
education  for  approximately  forty  years.  Mann  and  Bar- 
nard stand  out  as  the  two  conspicuous  leaders  during  the 
formative  period  of  American  education.  Mann  in  particu- 
lar pointed  the  way  to  many  subsequent  reforms  in  the 
administration  of  public  education,  while  to  Barnard  we  owe 
a  special  debt  as  our  first  great  educational  scholar. 

The  "  awakening"  elsewhere;  the  leaders.  The  work 
of  Mann  and  Barnard  had  its  influence  throughout  all  the 
Northern  States,  and  encouraged  the  friends  of  education 
everywhere.  Almost  contemporaneous  with  them  were 
leaders  in  other  States  who  helped  fight  through  the  battles 
of  state  establishment  and  state  organization  and  control, 
among  the  more  prominent  of  whom  should  be  mentioned 
Calvin  Stowe,  Samuel  Lewis,  and  Samuel  Galloway  in 
Ohio;  Caleb  Mills  in  Indiana;  Ninian  W.  Edwards  in  Illi- 


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BATTLE  TO  CONTROL  THE  SYSTEM  171 

nois;  John  D.  Pierce  and  Isaac  E.  Crary  in  Michigan;  Robert 
J.  Breckinridge  in  Kentucky;  Calvin  H.  Wiley  in  North  Caro- 
lina; and  John  Swett  in  California. 

It  is  not  perhaps  without  its  significance,  as  showing  the 
enduring  influence  of  the  Calvinistic  educational  traditions, 
that  of  these  Stowe  was  a  graduate  of  Bowdoin  College  in 
Maine,  and  that  the  Stowe  family  goes  back  to  1634,  in 
Roxbury,  Massachusetts;  that  Lewis  was  born  in  Massa- 
chusetts, was  descended  from  one  of  the  first  colonists  in 
Plymouth,  and  floated  down  the  Ohio  with  his  parents  to 
Cincinnati  in  the  great  westward  migration  of  New  Eng- 
land people;  that  Galloway  was  of  Scotch-Irish  ancestry,  and 
was  educated  among  New  England  people  in  Ohio;  that 
Mills  was  born  in  New  Hampshire,  and  had  been  graduated 
from  Dartmouth;  that  Pierce  was  born  in  New  Hampshire, 
educated  in  Massachusetts,  and  had  been  graduated  from 
Brown;  that  Crary  was  of  Puritan  ancestry,  born  and  edu- 
cated in  Connecticut,  and  a  graduate  of  Trinity  College; 
that  Breckinridge  was  a  descendant  of  a  Scotch  Covenanter 
who  fled  to  America,  at  the  time  of  the  restoration  of  the 
Stuarts  in  England,  and  settled  in  Pennsylvania;  that  Wiley 
was  of  early  Scotch-Irish  Presbyterian  stock  ;  and  that  Swett 
was  born  and  educated  in  New  Hampshire,  taught  school 
in  Massachusetts  in  the  days  of  Horace  Mann,  and  was 
descended  from  a  family  of  that  name  which  landed  at 
Massachusetts  Bay  in  1642. 

6.  TJie  battle  to  eliminate  sectarianism 
The  secularization  of  American  education.  The  Church, 
it  will  be  remembered,  was  with  us  from  the  earliest  colonial 
times  in  possession  of  the  education  of  the  young.  Not 
only  were  the  earliest  schools  controlled  by  the  Church  and 
dominated  by  the  religious  motive,  but  the  right  of  the 
Church  to  dictate  the  teaching  in  the  schools  was  clearly 
recognized  by  the  State.  Still  more,  the  State  looked  to 
the  Church  to  provide  the  necessary  education,  and  assisted 
it  in  doing  so  by  donations  of  land  and  money.     The  min- 


172  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

ister,  as  a  town  official,  naturally  examined  the  teachers  and 
the  instruction  in  the  schools.  After  the  establishment  of 
our  National  Government  this  relationship  for  a  time  con- 
tinued. New  York  and  the  New  England  States  specifi- 
cally set  aside  lands  to  help  both  church  and  school.  When 
Connecticut  sold  its  Western  Reserve,  in  1795,  and  added 
the  sum  to  the  Connecticut  school  fund,  it  was  stated  to  be 
for  the  aid  of  "schools  and  the  gospel."  In  the  sales  of  the 
first  national  lands  in  Ohio  (1,500,000  acres  to  The  Ohio 
Company,  in  1787;  and  1,000,000  acres  in  the  Symmes  Pur- 
chase, near  Cincinnati,  in  1788),  section  16  in  each  town- 
ship was  reserved  and  given  as  an  endowment  for  schools, 
and  section  29  "for  the  purposes  of  religion."  After  about 
1800  these  land  endowments  for  religion  ceased,  but  grants 
of  state  aid  for  religious  schools  continued  for  nearly  a  half- 
century  longer.  Then  it  became  common  for  a  town  or  city 
to  build  a  schoolhouse  from  city  taxation,  and  let  it  out  rent- 
free  to  any  responsible  person  who  would  conduct  a  tuition 
school  in  it,  with  a  few  free  places  for  selected  poor  children. 
Still  later,  with  the  rise  of  the  state  schools,  it  became  quite 
common  to  take  over  church  and  private  schools  and  aid 
them  on  the  same  basis  as  the  new  state  schools. 

In  colonial  times,  too,  and  for  some  decades  into  our  na- 
tional period,  the  warmest  advocates  of  the  establishment 
of  schools  were  those  who  had  in  view  the  needs  of  the 
Church.  Then  gradually  the  emphasis  shifted,  as  we  have 
shown  in  Chapter  III,  to  the  needs  of  the  State,  and  a  new 
class  of  advocates  of  public  education  now  arose.  Still 
later  the  emphasis  has  been  shifted  to  industrial  and  civic 
and  national  needs,  and  the  religious  aim  has  been  almost 
completely  eliminated.  This  change  is  known  as  the  sec- 
ularization of  American  education.  It  also  required  many 
a  bitter  struggle,  and  was  accomplished  in  the  different 
States  but  slowly.  The  two  great  factors  which  served 
to  produce  this  change  have  been : 

1.  The  conviction  that  the  life  of  the  Republic  demands  an 
educated  and  intelligent  citizenship,  and  hence  the  general 


BATTLE  TO  CONTROL  THE  SYSTEM  173 

education  of  all  in  common  schools  controlled  by  the  State; 
and 
2.  The  great  diversity  of  religious  beliefs  among  our  people, 
which  has  forced  tolerance  and  religious  freedom  through  a 
consideration  of  the  rights  of  minorities. 

The  secularization  of  education  with  us  must  not  be  re- 
garded either  as  a  deliberate  or  a  wanton  violation  of  the 
rights  of  the  Church,  but  rather  as  an  unavoidable  incident 
connected  with  the  coming  to  self -consciousness  and  self- 
government  of  a  great  people. 

So  long  as  there  was  little  intercommunication  and  mi- 
gration, and  the  people  of  a  community  remained  fairly 
homogeneous,  it  was  perfectly  natural  that  the  common 
religious  faith  of  the  people  should  enter  into  the  instruction 
of  the  school.  When  the  schools  were  purely  local  and 
voluntary  this  was  not  a  serious  objection.  With  the  rise 
of  state  support,  and  the  widening  of  the  units  for  main- 
tenance and  control  from  the  lone  community  or  district 
to  the  town,  the  county,  and  the  State,  the  situation  changed. 
With  the  coming  of  foreign  immigration,  which  began  to  be 
marked  after  about  1825,  and  the  intermingling  of  peoples 
of  different  faiths  in  the  rapidly  evolving  cities,  religious 
uniformity  ceased  to  exist.  Majority  rule  now  for  a  time 
followed,  but  this  was  soon  forced  to  give  way  to  the  still 
more  important  governmental  principle  of  religious  free- 
dom. As  necessity  gradually  compelled  the  State  to  provide 
education  for  its  children,  sectarian  differences  made  it  in- 
creasingly evident  that  the  education  provided  must  be 
non-sectarian  in  character.  As  Brown  (S.  W.)  has  so  well 
stated  it: 

Differences  of  religious  belief  and  a  sound  regard  on  the  part  of 
the  State  for  individual  freedom  in  religious  matters,  coupled  with 
the  necessity  for  centralization  and  uniformity,  rather  than  hos- 
tility to  religion  as  such,  lie  at  the  bottom  of  the  movement  toward 
the  secular  school. 

Gradual  nature  of  the  change.  The  change  to  non -sec- 
tarian schools  came  very  gradually,  and  it  is  hard  to  assign  a 


174  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

date  for  its  beginning.  The  chart  between  pages  44  and 
45,  showing  the  process  of  evolving  the  civic  out  of  the  ear- 
lier religious  schools,  discloses  a  gradual  fading  out  of  reli- 
gious influence  and  control  during  the  eighteenth  century, 
and  the  gradual  assumption  of  state  control  early  in  the  nine- 
teenth century.     The  change  began  early  in  our  national 

history  —  in  a  way  it 
was  but  a  sequel  to  the 
waning  religious  interest 
which  characterized  the 
last  fifty  years  of  the 
colonial  period  — but  it 

who  lives  in  the  eaft;  a  worfe  looking  beaft.  WaS     not      Until     the      de- 

Fig.  30.  The  Alphabet  cac*e  of  the  forties  that 

From    The   Columbian  Primer,   1802.     A   small,  tfle   Question  became  at 

84-page,  modernized  and  secularized  imitation  of  the  all  acute.  At  first  it 
New  England  Primer.    Each  letter  was  illustrated;  ,  ,  „ 

the  illustrations  for  C  and  D  are  here  reproduced.  Was  largely  a  matter  01 

change  in  the  character 
of  instruction,  marked  by  a  decreasing  emphasis  on  the  re- 
ligious element  and  an  increasing  emphasis  on  secular  mate- 
rial. The  use  of  the  English  Dilworth's  A  New  Guide  to  the 
English  Tongue,  after  about  1760;  the  publication  of  Noah 
Webster's  American  Spelling  Book,  sl  combined  speller  and 
reader,  in  1783;  and  the  Columbian  Primer  and  the  Franklin 
Primer,  in  1802;  soon  broke  the  almost  exclusive  hold  of  the 
New  England  Primer,  with  its  Shorter  Catechism,  on  the 
schools.  By  1806  the  Primer  had  been  discarded  in  the  dame 
schools  of  Boston,  as  well  as  in  the  lower  schools  in  most 
other  cities,  though  it  continued  to  be  used  in  the  rural  dis- 
tricts until  near  the  beginning  of  the  second  quarter  of  the 
nineteenth  century.  Other  American  textbooks,  more  liter- 
ary and  less  religious  in  character,  also  helped  along  the  pro- 
cess of  change.  Some  of  the  more  prominent  of  these  were 
Caleb  Bingham's  American  Preceptor  (1794)  and  Columbian 
Orator  (1806),  Lindley  Murray's  Grammar  (1795),  and  the 
Franklin  Primer  (1802).  Readings  from  these  new  books 
now  took  the  place  of  readings  from  the  Bible. 


BATTLE  TO  CONTROL  THE  SYSTEM  175 

The  Lancastrian  schools  also  gave  but  little  attention  to 
religious  instruction  as  such,  though  having  religious  exer- 
cises, and  these,  it  will  be  remembered,  became  for  a  time 
exceedingly  popular  throughout  the  country.  The  most 
significant  single  fact,  and  one  clearly  expressive  of  the  proc- 
ess which  had  for  long  been  under  way,  was  the  Massa- 
chusetts Act  of  1827  which  declared  that  School  Committees 
should  "never  direct  to  be  used  or  purchased  in  any  of  the 
town  schools  any  school  books  which  were  calculated  to 
favor  the  tenets  of  any  particular  sect  of  Christians."  This 
Act  merely  registered  what  the  slow  operation  of  public 
opinion  had  already  decided.  In  1833  Massachusetts  gave 
up  taxing  for  church  support,  as  had  Connecticut  in  1818. 

The  fight  in  Massachusetts.  The  educational  awakening 
in  Massachusetts,  brought  on  by  the  work  of  Carter  and 
Mann,  was  to  many  a  rude  awakening.  Among  other 
things,  it  revealed  that  the  old  school  of  the  Puritans  had 
gradually  been  replaced  by  a  new  and  purely  American 
type  of  school,  with  instruction  adapted  to  democratic  and 
national  rather  than  religious  ends.  Mr.  Mann  stood 
strongly  for  such  a  conception  of  public  education,  and  being 
a  Unitarian,  and  the  new  State  Board  of  Education  being 
almost  entirely  liberal  in  religion,  an  attack  was  launched 
against  them,  and  for  the  first  time  in  our  history  the  cry 
was  raised  that  "The  public  schools  are  Godless  schools." 
Those  who  believed  in  the  old  system  of  religious  instruc- 
tion, those  who  bore  the  Board  or  its  Secretary  personal  ill- 
will,  and  those  who  desired  to  break  down  the  Board's  au- 
thority and  stop  the  development  of  the  public  schools, 
united  their  forces  in  this  first  big  attack  against  secular 
education.  Horace  Mann  was  the  first  prominent  educator 
in  America  to  meet  and  answer  the  religious  onslaught. 

A  violent  attack  was  opened  in  both  the  pulpit  and  the 
press.  It  was  claimed  that  the  Board  was  trying  to  elimi- 
nate the  Bible  from  the  schools,  to  abolish  correction,  and  to 
"make  the  schools  a  counterpoise  to  religious  instruction  at 
home  and  in  Sabbath  schools."    The  local  right  to  demand 


176  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

religious  instruction  was  insisted  upon.     Even  as  conserva- 
tive a  journal  as  the  Princeton  Review  declared : 

The  people  of  each  school  district  have  the  right  to  make  the 
schools  as  religious  as  they  please;  and  if  they  cannot  agree  they 
have  the  right  severally  of  withdrawing  their  proper  proportion 
of  the  public  stock  of  funds. 

Mr.  Mann  felt  that  a  great  public  issue  had  been  raised 
which  should  be  answered  carefully  and  fully.  In  three 
public  letters  and  in  one  of  his  Reports  he  answered  the 
criticisms  and  pointed  out  the  errors  in  the  argument.  The 
Bible,  he  said,  was  an  invaluable  book  for  forming  the  char- 
acter of  children,  and  should  be  read  without  comment  in  the 
schools,  but  it  was  not  necessary  to  teach  it  there.  He 
showed  that  most  of  the  towns  had  given  up  the  teaching 
of  the  Catechism  before  the  establishment  of  the  Board 
of  Education.  He  contended  that  any  attempt  to  decide 
what  creed  or  doctrine  should  be  taught  would  mean  the 
ruin  of  the  schools. 

The  attack  culminated  in  the  attempts  of  the  religious 
forces  to  abolish  the  State  Board  of  Education,  in  the  legis- 
latures of  1840  and  1841,  which  failed  dismally.  Most  of 
the  orthodox  people  of  the  State  took  Mr.  Mann's  side,  and 
Governor  Briggs,  in  one  of  his  messages,  commended  his 
stand  by  inserting  the  following: 

Justice  to  a  faithful  public  officer  leads  me  to  say  that  the  inde- 
fatigable and  accomplished  Secretary  of  the  Board  of  Education 
has  performed  services  in  the  cause  of  common  schools  which  will 
earn  him  the  lasting  gratitude  of  the  generation  to  which  he 
belongs. 

The  attempt  to  divide  the  school  funds.  As  was  stated 
earlier,  in  the  beginning  it  was  common  to  aid  church  schools 
on  the  same  basis  as  the  state  schools,  and  sometimes,  in  the 
beginnings  of  state  aid,  the  money  was  distributed  among 
existing  schools  without  at  first  establishing  any  public 
schools.  In  many  Eastern  cities  church  schools  at  first 
shared  in  the  public  funds.     In  Pennsylvania  church  and 


BATTLE  TO  CONTROL  THE  SYSTEM  177 

private  schools  were  aided  from  poor-law  funds  up  to  1834. 
In  New  Jersey  the  first  general  school  law  of  1829  had  been 
repealed  a  year  later  through  the  united  efforts  of  church 
and  private  school  interests,  who  fought  the  development 
of  state  schools,  and  in  1830  and  1831  new  laws  had  per- 
mitted all  private  and  parochial  schools  to  share  in  the  small 
state  appropriation  for  education. 

After  the  beginning  of  the  forties,  when  the  Roman  Catho- 
lic influence  came  in  strongly  with  the  increase  in  Irish 
immigration  to  the  United  States,  a  new  factor  was  intro- 
duced and  the  problem,  which  had  previously  been  a  Pro- 
testant problem,  took  on  a  somewhat  different  aspect. 
Largely  through  the  demands  of  the  Catholics  one  of  the 
most  interesting  fights  in  the  whole  process  of  secularizing 
American  education  was  precipitated  in  the  City  of  New 
York. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  the  Public  School  Society, 
founded  in  1805,  had  become  the  greatest  single  educational 
organization  in  the  city,  and  had  received  state  money, 
after  1807,  to  assist  it  in  its  work.  In  1820  the  Bethel 
Baptist  Church  was  admitted  to  a  share  in  the  state  appro- 
priation. To  this  the  Public  School  Society  objected,  and 
the  legislature  in  1825  turned  over  the  quota  of  New  York 
City  to  the  city  council,  to  divide  as  it  thought  best.  The 
council  cut  off  the  Baptist  schools,  three  of  which  were  by 
that  time  running,  and  refused  to  grant  public  money  to 
any  religious  society.  In  1828  the  Public  School  Society 
was  permitted  to  levy  a  local  tax  to  supplement  its  resources, 
it  being  estimated  that  at  that  time  there  were  10,000  chil- 
dren in  the  city  with  no  opportunities  for  education.  The 
Society  was  regarded  as  a  non-denominational  organization, 
though  chartered  to  teach  "the  sublime  truths  of  religion 
and  morality  contained  in  the  Holy  Scriptures'*  in  its 
schools. 

In  1831  the  Catholic  Orphan  Asylum  applied  to  the  city 
council  for  a  grant  of  funds,  which  was  allowed.  The 
Methodists  at  once  applied  for  a  similar  grant,  and  were 


178  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

refused.  The  religious  question  now  became  more  and  more 
prominent,  though  without  any  progress  being  made  toward 
its  settlement.  By  1840  the  Massachusetts  conflict  was  on, 
and  in  that  year  Governor  Seward,  of  New  York,  urged  the 
establishment  of  schools  in  the  cities  of  the  State  in  which 
the  teachers  should  be  of  the  same  language  and  religion  as 
the  foreign  patrons.  This  dangerous  proposal  encouraged 
the  Catholics,  and  they  immediately  applied  to  the  New 
York  City  council  for  a  division  of  the  city  school  fund,  and, 
on  being  refused,  carried  their  demand  to  the  legislature  of 
the  State.  A  Hebrew  and  a  Scotch  Presbyterian  Church 
also  applied  for  their  share,  and  supported  the  Catholics  in 
their  demands.  On  the  other  hand  the  Methodists,  Epis- 
copalians, Baptists,  Dutch  Reformed,  and  Reformed  Pres- 
byterians united  with  the  Public  School  Society  in  opposing 
all  such  divison  of  the  funds. 

The  legislature  deferred  action  until  1842,  and  then  did 
the  unexpected  thing.  The  heated  discussion  of  the  ques- 
tion in  the  city  and  in  the  legislature  had  made  it  evident 
that,  while  it  might  not  be  desirable  to  continue  to  give 
funds  to  a  privately  organized  corporation,  to  divide  them 
among  the  quarreling  and  envious  religious  sects  would  be 
much  worse.  The  result  was  that  the  legislature  created  for 
the  city  a  City  Board  of  Education,  to  establish  real  public 
schools,  and  stopped  the  debate  on  the  question  of  aid  to 
religious  schools  by  enacting  that  no  portion  of  the  school 
funds  was  in  the  future  to  be  given  to  any  school  in  which 
"  any  religious  sectarian  doctrine  or  tenet  should  be  taught, 
inculcated,  or  practiced."  Thus  the  real  public  school  sys- 
tem of  New  York  City  was  evolved  out  of  this  attempt  to 
divide  the  public  funds  among  the  churches.  The  Public 
School  Society  continued  for  a  time,  but  its  work  was  now 
done,  and  in  1853  it  surrendered  its  buildings  and  property 
to  the  City  Board  of  Education  and  disbanded. 

The  contest  in  other  States.  As  early  as  1830,  Lowell, 
Massachusetts,  had  granted  aid  to  the  Irish  Catholic 
parochial  schools  in  the  city,  and  in  1835  had  taken  over 


BATTLE  TO  CONTROL  THE  SYSTEM  179 

two  such  schools  and  maintained  them  as  public  schools. 
In  1853  the  representatives  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church 
made  a  demand  on  the  state  legislature  for  a  division  of  the 
school  fund  of  the  State.  To  settle  the  question  once  for 
all  a  constitutional  amendment  was  submitted  by  the  legis- 
lature to  the  people,  providing  that  all  state  and  town 
moneys  raised  or  appropriated  for  education  must  be  ex- 
pended only  on  regularly  organized  and  conducted  public 
schools,  and  that  no  religious  sect  should  ever  share  in  such 
funds.  This  measure  failed  of  adoption  at  the  election  of 
1853  by  a  vote  of  65,111  for  and  65,512  against,  but  was 
re-proposed  and  adopted  in  1855.  This  settled  the  question 
in  Massachusetts,  as  Mann  had  tried  to  settle  it  earlier,  and 
as  New  Hampshire  had  settled  it  in  its  constitution  of  1792 
and  Connecticut  in  its  constitution  of  1818. 

Other  States  now  faced  similar  demands,  but  no  demand 
for  a  share  in  or  a  division  of  the  public  school  funds,  after 
1840,  was  successful.  The  demand  everywhere  met  with 
intense  opposition,  and  with  the  coming  of  enormous  num- 
bers of  Irish  Catholics  after  1846,  and  German  Lutherans 
after  1848,  the  question  of  the  preservation  as  unitied  state 
school  systems  of  the  schools  just  established  now  became 
a  burning  one.  Petitions  deluged  the  legislatures,  and  these 
were  met  by  counter-petitions.  Mass  meetings  on  both  sides 
of  the  question  were  held.  Candidates  for  office  were  forced 
to  declare  themselves.  Anti-Catholic  riots  occurred  in  a 
number  of  cities.  The  Native  American  Party  was  formed, 
in  1841,  "to  prevent  the  union  of  Church  and  State,"  and 
to  "keep  the  Bible  in  the  schools."  In  1841  the  Whig 
Party,  in  New  York,  inserted  a  plank  in  its  platform  against 
sectarian  schools.  In  1855  the  national  council  of  the  Know- 
Nothing  Party,  meeting  in  Philadelphia,  in  its  platform 
favored  public  schools  and  the  use  of  the  Bible  therein,  but 
opposed  sectarian  schools.  This  party  carried  the  elections 
that  year  in  Massachusetts,  New  Hampshire,  Connecticut, 
Rhode  Island,  Maryland,  and  Kentucky. 

To  settle  the  question  in  a  final  manner  legislatures  now 


180 


EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 


began  to  propose  constitutional  amendments  to  the  people 
of  their  several  States  which  forbade  a  division  or  a  diver- 
sion of  the  funds,  and  these  were  almost  uniformly  adopted 
at  the  first  election  after  being  proposed.  The  States,  with 
the  date  of  adoption  of  such  a  constitutional  prohibition,  are: 


States  amending  constitution 


Adopted  when  admitted 


New  Jersey- 

1844  ' 

Wisconsin 

1848 

Michigan 

1850 

Oregon 

1857 

Ohio 

1851    ' 

Kansas 

1859 

Indiana 

1851 

Nevada 

1864 

Massachusetts 

1855 

Nebraska 

1867 

Iowa 

1857 

West  Virginia 

1872 

Mississippi 

1868 

Colorado 

1876 

South  Carolina 

1868 

North  Dakota 

1889 

Arkansas 

1868 

South  Dakota 

1889 

Illinois 

1870 

Montana 

1889 

Pennsylvania 

1872 

Washington 

1889 

Alabama 

1875 

Idaho 

1890 

Missouri 

1875 

Wyoming 

1890 

North  Carolina 

1876 

Utah 

1896 

Texas 

1876 

Oklahoma 

1907 

Minnesota 

1877 

New  Mexico 

1912 

Georgia 

1877 

Arizona 

1912 

California 

1879 

Louisiana 

1879 

Florida 

1885 

Delaware 

1897 

/ 


In  1875  President  Grant,  in  his  message  to  Congress, 
urged  the  submission  of  an  amendment  to  the  Federal  Con- 
stitution making  it  the  duty  of  the  States  to  support  free 
public  schools,  free  from  religious  teaching,  and  forbidding 
the  diversion  of  school  funds  to  church  or  sectarian  pur- 
poses. In  a  later  message  he  renewed  the  recommendation, 
but  Congress  took  no  action  because  it  considered  such 
action  unnecessary.  That  the  people  had  thoroughly  de- 
cided that  the  school  funds  must  be  kept  intact  and  the 
system  of  free  public  schools  preserved  may  be  inferred 
from  the  fact  that  no  State  admitted  to  the  Union  after 


BATTLE  TO  CONTROL  THE  SYSTEM  181 

1858,  excepting  West  Virginia,  failed  to  insert  such  a  pro- 
vision in  its  first  state  constitution.  Hence  the  question 
may  be  regarded  as  a  settled  one  in  our  American  States. 
Our  people  mean  to  keep  the  public  school  system  united 
as  one  state  school  system,  well  realizing  that  any  attempt 
to  divide  the  schools  among  the  different  religious  denomina- 
tions (The  World  Almanac  for  1917  lists  49  different  denom- 
inations and  171  different  sects  in  the  United  States)  could 
only  lead  to  inefficiency  and  educational  chaos. 

QUESTIONS  FOR  DISCUSSION 

1.  Explain  why  with  us  schools  naturally  developed  from  the  community 
outward. 

2.  Why  did  state  organization  and  compulsion  eventually  become 
necessary? 

3.  Do  state  support  and  state  control  always  go  together? 

4.  State  your  explanation  for  the  older  States  beginning  to  establish 
permanent  school  funds,  often  before  they  had  established  a  state 
system  of  schools. 

5.  What  was  the  reason  the  local  school  communities  so  resented  state 
control,  when  anxious  to  accept  state  funds? 

6.  Compare  the  duties  of  the  chief  state  school  officer  in  your  state  to- 
day with  those  described  for  the  early  state  officials. 

7.  Explain  how  the  different  titles  for  the  chief  state  school  officer, 
given  on  page  160,  are  "significant  of  the  educational  development 
through  which  we  have  passed." 

8.  Explain  how  the  district  system  naturally  became  what  it  did. 

9.  Show  the  gradual  transition  from  church  control  of  education,  through 
state  aid  of  church  schools,  to  secularized  state  schools. 

10.  Show  why  secularized  state  schools  were  the  only  possible  solution 
for  the  United  States. 

11.  Show  that  the  quotation  from  Brown,  on  page  173,  represents  the 
statesman-like  manner  in  which  we  have  handled  the  question. 

12.  Show  that  secularization  would  naturally  take  place  in  the  textbooks 
and  the  instruction  before  manifesting  itself  in  the  laws. 

13.  What  would  be  the  effect  on  education  if  every  one  followed  the 
declaration  of  the  writer  in  the  Princeton  Review  (p.  176)?  Would 
the  attempt  of  the  Catholics  to  divide  the  school  funds  have  resulted 
in  the  same  thing? 

14.  What  would  have  l>cf*n  the  probable  result  had  the  New  York  legis- 
lature followed  Governor  Seward's  recommendation? 

15.  Would  a  good  system  of  high  schools  ever  have  been  possible  had  we 
divided  the  school  funds  among  the  churches? 


182  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

TOPICS  FOR  INVESTIGATION  AND  REPORT 

1.  The  work  of  Horace  Mann. 

2.  The  work  of  Henry  Barnard. 

3.  The  work  of  James  G.  Carter.    (Barnard.) 

4.  The  messages  of  Caleb  Mills.   (Boone;  Tuttle.) 

5.  Barnard's  Rhode  Island  school  survey  report.   (Wells.) 

6.  The  work  of  Lewis  and  Stowe  in  Ohio.    (Barnard.) 

7.  The  work  of  Pierce  and  Crary  in  Michigan.    (Hoyt-Ford.) 

8.  The  work  of  Breckinridge  in  Kentucky.   (Barnard.) 

9.  The  work  of  Calvin  Wiley  in  North  Carolina.   (Barnard;  Knight.) 
10.  The  work  of  John  Swett  in  California. 

SELECTED  REFERENCES 

Barnard,  Henry,  Editor.  The  American  Journal  of  Education.  31  vols. 
Consult  Analytical  Index  to;  128  pp.  Published  by  United  States  Bureau 
of  Education,  Washington,  1892. 

Barnard,  Henry.  American  Teachers  and  Educators.  526  pp.  C.  W. 
Bardeen,  Syracuse,  New  York. 

A  reprint  of  articles  found  in  different  volumes  of  the  American  Journal  of  Education. 
Contains  biographies  with  portraits  of  Carter,  Lewis,  Mann,  Peirce,  Stowe,  and  others. 

Barnard,  Henry.  Memorial  Addresses  on;  in  Proceedings  of  the  National 
Education  Association,  1901,  pp.  390-439. 

1.  Influence  in  establishing  normal  schools  —  Lyte. 

i.  Influence  on  schools  in  West  —  Dougherty. 

S.  Home  Life  and  Work  in  Connecticut  and  Rhode  Island  —  Keyes. 

4.  As  an  educational  critic  —  Parker. 

5.  His  relation  to  the  establishment  of  the  office  of  United  States  Commissioner 
of  Education,  with  historical  reviews  —  Harris. 

*Boese,  Thos.    Public  Education  in  the  City  of  New  York.    288  pp.    Harper 
&  Bros.,  New  York,  1869. 
An  important  work,  compiled  from  the  documents.    Still  found  in  many  libraries. 

Boone,  R.  G.  Education  in  the  United  States.  402  pp.  D.  Appleton  & 
Co.,  New  York.  1889. 

Chapter  VII  forms  good  supplemental  reading  on  the  establishment  of  state  and  local 
school  supervision. 

*Brown,  S.  W.      The  Secularization  of  American  Education.      160  pp. 
Teachers  College  Contributions  to  Education,  No.  49.    New  York,  1912. 
A  standard  work  on  the  subject.   Chapters   IX  and  X  form  especially  good  supple- 
mental reading  for  this  chapter. 

Harris,  Wm.  T.  "  Horace  Mann  " ;  in  Educational  Review,  vol.  xii,  pp.  105- 
19.  (Sept.,  1896.)  Same  in  Proceedings  of  the  National  Education  Asso- 
ciation, 1896,  pp.  52-63;  and  in  Report  of  the  United  States  Commissioner 
of  Education,  1895-96,  part  i,  pp.  887-97. 


BATTLE  TO  CONTROL  THE  SYSTEM  183 

*Hinsdale,  B.  A.     Horace  Mann,  and  the  Common  School  Revival  in  the 
United  States.    326  pp.    Chas.  Scribner's  Sons,  New  York,  1898. 
A  very  good  and  a  very  readable  sketch  of  the  work  and  influence  of  Mann. 

Hoyt,  C.  O.,  and  Ford,  R.  C.    John  D.  Pierce.    162  pp.    Ypsilanti,  Mich- 
igan, 1905. 

A  study  of  education  in  the  Northwest,  and  of  the  founding  of  the  Michigan  school 
system. 

*Martin,  Geo.  H.    "Horace  Mann  and  the  Educational  Revival  in  Massa- 
chusetts"; in  Educational  Review,  vol.  5,  pp.  434-50.     (May,  1893.) 
A  good  brief  sketch. 

*Martin,  Geo.  H.     The  Evolution  of  the  Massachusetts  Public  School  System. 
284  pp.    D.  Appleton  &  Co.,  New  York,  1894. 

Chapter  IV  describes  the  work  of  Horace  Mann  and  the  revival  in  Massachusetts. 

*Monroe,  Paul.    Cyclopedia  of  Education.    The  Macmillan  Co.,  New  York, 
1911-13.     5  volumes. 

The  following  articles  form  good  supplemental  references: 

1.  "Barnard,  Henry";  vol.  i,  pp.  324-25. 

2.  "Bible  in  the  Schools";  vol.  i,  pp.  370-77. 

3.  "Mann,  Horace";  vol.  iv,  pp.  118-20. 

4.  The  historical  portion  of  the  articles  on  state  school  systems,  such  as  Indiana, 
New  York,  etc. 

5.  "Superintendent  of  Schools,"  vol.  v,  pp.  463-64. 

*Monroe,  W.  S.      The  Educational  Labors  of  Henry  Barnard.     82  pp.. 
C.  W.  Bardeen,  Syracuse,  New  York,  1893. 
A  good  brief  sketch,  with  bibliography  of  his  writings. 

*Tuttle,  Jos.  F.    Caleb  Mills  and  Indiana  Common  Schools;  in  Barnard's 
American  Journal  of  Education,  vol.  31,  pp.  135-44. 

A  sketch  of  his  life  and  work,  and  an  outline  of  his  six  messages  to  the  people  regarding 
education. 

Wells,  Guy  F.    "The  First  School  Survey";  in  Educational  Review,  vol.  50, 
pp.  166-74.   (Sept.,  1915.) 

On  Barnard's  1845  Rhode  Island  Report. 

\\  in^iip,  A.  E.    Great  American  Educators.    252  pp.    Werner  School  Book 
Co.,  Chicago,  1900. 

Good  short  biographical  articles  on  Mann  and  Barnard,  as  well  as  Mary  Lyon,  David 
Page,  and  others. 

"Henry  Barnard:    His  Labors  in  Connecticut  and  Rhode  Island";  in 
Barnard's  American  Journal  of  Education,  vol.  1,  pp.  659-738. 
A  detailed  statement  of  his  work,  reproducing  many  documents. 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE  BATTLE  TO  EXTEND  THE  SYSTEM 

i III.  Phases  of  the  Battle  for  State-Supported 
Schools  —  continued 

6.  The  battle  to  establish  the  American  high  school 
The  elementary  or  common  schools  which  we  have  seen 
had  been  established  in  the  different  States,  by  1850,  sup- 
plied an  elementary  or  common-school  education  to  the 
children  of  the  masses  of  the  people,  and  the  primary  schools 
which,  as  we  have  also  seen,  were  added,  after  about  1820, 
carried  this  education  downward  to  the  needs  of  the  begin- 
ners. In  the  rural  schools  the  American  school  of  the  3-Rs 
provided  for  all  the  children,  from  the  little  ones  up,  so  long 
as  they  could  advantageously  partake  of  its  instruction. 
Education  in  advance  of  this  common  school  training  was 
in  semi-private  institutions  —  the  academies  and  colleges  — 
in  which  a  tuition  fee  was  charged.  The  next  struggle  came 
in  the  attempt  to  extend  the  system  upward  so  as  to  pro- 
vide to  pupils,  free  of  charge,  a  more  complete  education 
than  the  common  schools  afforded. 

The  transition  Academy.  About  the  middle  of  the 
eighteenth  century  a  tendency  manifested  itself,  in  Europe 
as  well  as  in  America,  to  establish  higher  schools  offering  a 
more  practical  curriculum  than  the  old  Latin  schools  had 
provided.  In  America  it  became  particularly  evident,  after 
the  coming  of  nationality,  that  the  old  Latin  grammar- 
school  type  of  instruction,  with  its  limited  curriculum  and 
exclusively  college-preparatory  ends,  was  wholly  inadequate 
for  the  needs  of  the  youth  of  the  land.  The  result  was  the 
gradual  dying  out  of  the  Latin  school  and  the  evolution  of 
the  tuition  Academy,  previously  referred  to  briefly  at  the 
close  of  Chapter  III. 


BATTLE  TO  EXTEND  THE  SYSTEM 


185 


Franklin's  Academy  at  Philadelphia,  which  began  instruc- 
tion in  1751  with  three  organized  departments  —  the  Latin 
School,  the  English  School,  and  the  Mathematical  School  — 
and  which  later  evolved  into  the  University  of  Pennsylvania, 
was  probably  the  first  American  academy.  Others  claim 
the  honor  of  earlier  establishment,  but  this  is  the  first  the 
foundation  of  which  is  perfectly  clear.  The  first  academies 
in  Massachusetts  were  the  Dumraer  Academy,  in  South 
Byfield,  founded  in  1761,  and  opened  for  instruction  in  1763; 
and  the  Phillips  Academy 
at  Andover,  founded  in 
1778,  and  opened  for  in- 
struction in  1780.  The 
academy  movement  spread 
rapidly  during  the  first 
half  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury. By  1800  there  were 
17  academies  in  Massa- 
chusetts, 36  by  1820,  and 
403  by  1850.  By  1830  there 
were,  according  to  Hins- 
dale, 950  incorporated 
academies  in  the  United 
States,  and  many  unincor- 
porated ones,  and  by  1850, 

according  to  Inglis,  there  were,  of  all  kinds,  1007  academies 
in  New  England,  1636  in  the  Middle  Atlantic  States,  2640 
in  the  Southern  States,  753  in  the  Upper  Mississippi  Valley 
States, and  a  total  reported  for  the  entire  United  States  of 
6085,  with  12,260  teachers  employed  and  263,096  pupils 
enrolled.  The  movement  gained  a  firm  hold  everywhere 
east  of  the  Missouri  River,  the  States  incorporating  the 
largest  number  being  New  York  with  887,  Pennsylvania 
with  524,  Massachusetts  with  403,  Kentucky  with  330, 
Virginia  with  317,  North  Carolina  with  272,  and  Tennessee 
with  264.  Some  States,  as  Kentucky  and  Indiana,  provided 
for  a  system  of  county  academies,  while  many  States  ex- 


Fiq.  31.  A  Typical  New  England 
Academy 

Pitts6eld  Academy,  New  Hampshire,  where 
John  Swett  went  to  school. 


186  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

tended  to  them  some  form  of  state  aid.  In  New  York  State 
they  found  a  warm  advocate  in  Governor  De  Witt  Clinton, 
who  urged  (1827)  that  they  be  located  at  the  county  towns 
of  the  State  to  give  a  practical  scientific  education  suited 
to  the  wants  of  farmers,  merchants,  and  mechanics,  and  also 
to  train  teachers  for  the  schools  of  the  State.  The  greatest 
period  of  their  development  was  from  1820  to  1830,  though 
they  continued  to  dominate  secondary  education  until  1850, 
and  were  very  prominent  until  after  the  Civil  War. 

Characteristic  features.  The  most  characteristic  features 
of  these  academies  were  their  semi-public  control,  their 
broadened  curriculum  and  religious  purpose,  and  the  exten- 
sion of  their  instruction  to  girls.  The  Latin  Grammar 
School  was  essentially  a  town  free  school,  maintained  by 
the  towns  for  the  higher  education  of  certain  of  their  male 
children.  It  was  aristocratic  in  type,  and  belonged  to  the 
early  period  of  class  education.  With  the  decline  in  zeal  for 
education,  after  1750,  these  tax-supported  higher  schools 
largely  died  out,  and  in  their  place  private  energy  and 
benevolence  came  to  be  depended  upon  to  supply  the  needed 
higher  education.  Many  of  the  earlier  foundations  were 
from  estates  left  by  will  for  the  purpose  by  some  public- 
spirited  citizen,  and  others  were  organized  by  private  sub- 
scriptions, or  as  private  stock  companies.  A  few  others 
were  organized  along  denominational  lines,  and  were  under 
ecclesiastical  control.  Practically  all  charged  a  tuition  fee, 
and  most  of  them  had  dormitories  and  boarding  halls.  The 
board  of  trustees  was  usually  a  local  private  corporation, 
usually  reported  to  the  state  school  authorities,  and  often 
was  constituted  as  a  self -perpetuating  body.  Many  of  these 
academies  became  semi-state  institutions  through  the  state 
aid  extended  to  them. 

One  of  the  main  purposes  expressed  in  the  endowment  or 
creation  of  the  academies  was  the  establishment  of  courses 
which  should  cover  a  number  of  subjects  having  value  aside 
from  mere  preparation  for  college,  particularly  subjects  of 
a  modern  nature,  useful  in  preparing  youths  for  the  changed 


BATTLE  TO  EXTEND  THE  SYSTEM  1S7 

conditions  of  society  and  government  and  business.     The 
st.iMJy__nf  _r<ffg.)  filings  rathfir  than  words  about  things,  and 

useful  things  rather  than  subjects  merely  preparatory  to 
college,  became  prominent  features  of  the  new  courses  of 
study.  The  new  emphasis  given  to  the  study  of  English, 
mathematics,  and  book-science  is  noticeable.  New  subjects 
appeared  in  proportion  as  the  academies  increased  in  num- 
bers and  importance.  Of  149  new  subjects  for  study  appear- 
ing in  the  academies  of  New  York,  between  1787  and  1870, 
23  appeared  before  1826,  100  between  1826  and  1840,  and 
26  after  1840.  Between  1825  and  1828  one  half  of  the  new  ) 
subjects  appeared.  This  also  was  the  maximum  period  of 
development  of  the  academies.  Among  the  most  com- 
monly found  new  subjects  were  algebra,  astronomy,  botany, 
chemistry,  general  history,  United  States  history,  English 
literature,  surveying,  intellectual  philosophy,  declamation, 
debating,  etc. 

Not  being  bound  up  with  the  colleges,  as  the  earlier  Latin 
grammar  schools  had  largely  been,  the  academies  became 
primarily  independent  institutions,  taking  pupils  who  had 
completed  the  English  education  of  the  common  school  and 
giving  them  an  advanced  education  in  modern  languages, 
the  sciences,  mathematics,  history,  and  the  more  useful 
subjects  of  the  time,  with  a  view  to  "rounding  out"  their 
studies  and  preparing  them  for  business  life  and  the  rising 
professions.  They  thus  built  upon  instead  of  running 
parallel  to  the  common  school  course,  as  the  old  Latin  gram- 
mar school  had  done  (see  Fig.  23,  p.  99),  and  hence 
clearly  mark  a  transition  from  the  aristocratic  and  some- 
what exclusive  college-preparatory  Latin  grammar  school 
of  colonial  times  to  the  more  democratic  high  school  of  to- 
day. The  academies  also  served  a  very  useful  purpose  in 
supplying  to  the  lower  schools  the  best-educated  teachers 
of  the  time.  Governor  Clinton  strongly  urged  their  exten- 
sion l>ecause  of  their  teacher-training  value.  They  offered 
no  instruction  in  pedagogy,  except  in  rare  instances,  but  be- 
cause of  their  advanced  instruction  in  subjects  related  to 


188         EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

the  work  of  the  common  school  they  served  as  the  fore- 
runners of  the  normal  schools. 

In  religious  matters,  too,  the  academies  also  represent 
such  a  transition.  They  were  nearly  always  pervaded  by  a 
genuine  religious  spirit,  but  were  usually  kept  free  from  the 
doctrines  of  any  particular  church.  The  foundation  grant 
of  one  of  the  earliest,  the  Phillips  Academy,  at  Andover, 
Massachusetts,  states  well  this  broader  religious  purpose. 
The  aim  of  the  Academy  was  to  be 

to  lay  the  foundation  of  a  public  free  school  or  ACADEMY  for 
the  purposes  of  instructing  Youth,  not  only  in  English  and  Latin 
Grammar,  Writing,  Arithmetic,  and  those  Sciences  wherein  they 
are  commonly  taught;  but  more  especially  to  learn  them  the 
GREAT  END  AND  REAL  BUSINESS  OF  LIVING  ...  it  is 
again  declared  that  the  first  and  principle  object  of  this  Institution 
is  the  promotion  of  TRUE  PIETY  and  VIRTUE;  the  second,  in- 
struction in  the  English,  Latin,  and  Greek  Languages,  together 
with  Writing,  Arithmetic,  Music,  and  the  Art  of  Speaking;  the 
third,  practical  Geometry,  Logic,  and  Geography;  and  the  fourth, 
such  other  liberal  Arts  and  Sciences  or  Languages,  as  opportunity 
and  ability  may  hereafter  admit,  and  as  the  TRUSTEES  shall 
direct. 

Though  this  breathes  a  deep  religious  spirit  it  does  not  evi- 
dence a  narrow  denominationalism,  and  this  was  a  char- 
acteristic of  the  academies.  They  bridged  over  the  transi- 
tion from  the  ecclesiasticism  of  the  Latin  grammar  schools 
of  colonial  times  to  the  secularized  high  school  of  the  present. 
The  old  Latin  grammar  school,  too,  had  been  maintained 
exclusively  for  boys.  Girls  had  been  excluded  as  "Im- 
proper &  inconsistent  wth  such  a  Grammar  Schoole  as  ye  law 
injoines,  and  is  ye  Designe  of  this  Settlem* . ' '  The  new  acad- 
emies soon  reversed  this  situation.  Almost  from  the  first 
they  began  to  be  established  for  girls  as  well  as  boys,  and 
in  time  many  became  co-educational.  In  New  York  State 
alone  32  academies  were  incorporated  between  1819  and 
1853  with  the  prefix  "Female"  to  their  title.  In  this  re- 
spect, also,  these  institutions  formed  a  transition  to  the  mod- 


BATTLE  TO  EXTEND  THE  SYSTEM  189 

era  co-educational  high  school.  The  higher  education  of 
women  in  the  United  States  clearly  dates  from  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  academies.  Troy  (New  York)  Seminary, 
founded  by  Emma  Willard,  in  1821,  and  Mt.  Holyoke 
(Massachusetts)  Seminary,  founded  by  Mary  Lyon,  in 
1836,  though  not  the  first  institutions  for  girls,  were  never- 
theless important  pioneers  in  the  higher  education  of  women. 
The  demand  for  higher  schools.  The  different  move- 
ments tending  toward  the  building  up  of  free  public  school 
systems  in  the  cities  and  States,  which  we  have  described 
in  the  two  preceding  chapters,  and  which  became  clearly 
defined  in  the  Northern  States  after  1825,  came  just  at  the 
time  when  the  Academy  had  reached  its  maximum  develop- 
ment. The  settlement  of  the  question  of  general  taxation 
for  education,  the  elimination  of  the  rate-bill  by  the  cities 
and  later  by  the  States,  the  establishment  of  the  American 
common  school  as  the  result  of  a  long  native  evolution 
(Fig.  23,  p.  99),  and  the  complete  establishment  of  public 
control  over  the  entire  elementary-school  system,  all  tended 
to  bring  the  semi-private  tuition  academy  into  question. 
Many  asked  why  not  extend  the  public  school  system  up- 
ward to  provide  the  necessary  higher  education  for  all  in 
one  common  state-supported  school.  The  existence  of  a 
number  of  colleges,  basing  their  entrance  requirements 
on  the  completion  of  the  classical  course  of  the  academy, 
and  the  establishment  of  a  few  embryo  state  universi- 
ties in  the  new  States  of  the  West  and  the  South,  naturally 
raised  the  further  question  of  why  there  should  be  a  gap 
in  the  public  school  system.  The  increase  of  wealth  in  the 
cities  tended  to  increase  the  number  who  passed  through 
the  elementary  course  and  could  profit  by  more  extended 
education;  the  academies  had  popularized  the  idea  of  more 
advanced  education ;  while  the  new  manufacturing  and  com- 
mercial activities  of  the  time  called  for  more  training  than 
the  elementary  schools  afforded,  and  of  a  different  type  from 
that  demanded  for  entrance  by  the  small  colleges  of  the 
time. 


190 


EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 


The  demand  for  an  upward  extension  of  the  public  school, 
which  would  provide  academy  instruction  for  the  poor  as 
well  as  the  rich,  and  in  one  common  public  higher  school, 
now  made  itself  felt.  As  the  colonial  Latin  grammar  school 
had  represented  the  educational  needs  of  a  society  based  on 
classes,  and  the  academies  had  represented  a  transition 
period  and  marked  the  growth  of  a  middle  class,  so  the  ris- 
ing democracy  of  the  second  quarter  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury now  demanded  and  obtained  the  democratic  high 
school,  supported  by  the  public  and  equally  open  to  all,  to 
meet  the  educational  needs  of  a  new  society  built  on  the 
basis  of  a  new  and  aggressive  de- 
mocracy. Where,  too,  the  academy 
had  represented  in  a  way  a  mis- 
sionary effort  —  that  of  a  few  pro- 
viding something  for  the  good  of 
the  people  —  the  high  school  on  the 
other  hand  represented  a  coopera- 
tive effort  on  the  part  of  the  people 
to  provide  something  for  them- 
selves. 

The  first  American  high  school. 
The  first  high  school  in  the  United 
States  was  established  in  Boston, 
in  1821.  For  three  years  it  was 
known  as  the  "English  Classical 
School,"  but  in  1824  the  school  ap- 
pears in  the  records  as  the  "Eng- 
lish High  School."  The  name  seems  to  be  Scotch  in  origin, 
having  been  suggested  by  the  description  of  the  High  School 
at  Edinburgh,  by  Professor  Griscom,  in  an  article  in  the 
North  American  Review,  then  published  in  Boston,  in  Jan- 
uary, 1824.  In  1826  Boston  also  opened  the  first  high 
school  for  girls,  but  abolished  it  in  1828,  due  to  its  great 
popularity,  and  instead  extended  the  course  of  study  for 
girls  in  the  elementary  schools. 
The  matter  of  establishing  an  English  high  school  was 


>»-       .  "Wfc     Ml,.. 

Fig.  32.  The  First  High 
School  in  the  United 
States 

Established  at  Boston  in  1821. 


BATTLE  TO  EXTEND  THE  SYSTEM  191 

first  considered  in  1820,  and  a  committee  was  appointed  to 
consider  the  matter  further.  This  committee  reported,  in 
January,  1821,  among  other  things,  that: 

The  mode  of  education  now  adopted,  and  the  branches  of  knowl- 
edge that  are  taught  at  our  English  grammar  (elementary) 
schools  are  not  sufficiently  extensive  nor  otherwise  calculated  to 
bring  the  powers  of  the  mind  into  operation  nor  to  qualify  a  youth 
to  fill  usefully  and  respectably  many  of  the  stations,  both  public 
and  private,  in  which  he  may  be  placed.  A  parent  who  wishes  to 
give  a  child  an  education  that  shall  fit  him  for  active  life,  and  shall 
serve  as  a  foundation  for  eminence  in  his  profession,  whether 
mercantile  or  mechanical,  is  under  the  necessity  of  giving  him  a 
different  education  from  any  which  our  public  schools  can  now 
furnish.  Hence  many  children  are  separated  from  their  parents 
and  sent  to  private  academies  in  the  vicinity,  to  acquire  that 
instruction  which  cannot  be  obtained  at  the  public  seminaries. 

The  report  recommended  the  establishment  of  a  new 
type  of  higher  school.  The  report  was  approved;  the 
course  of  study  as  recommended  was  adopted;  and  the 
school  was  opened  in  May,  1821,  as  a  three-year  high  school. 
Boys  to  be  admitted  were  required  to  be  at  least  twelve 
years  of  age,  instead  of  nine,  as  in  the  Latin  grammar  school 
(see  Fig.  42,  p.  226),  and  to  "be  well  acquainted  with 
reading,  writing,  English  grammar  in  all  its  branches,  and 
arithmetic  as  far  as  simple  proportion."  Three  years  later 
English  literature  and  geography  were  added.  The  teach- 
ers were  required  to  have  been  educated  at  some  univer- 
sity. No  other  language  than  English  was  to  be  taught; 
English,  declamation,  science,  mathematics  and  its  appli- 
cations, history,  and  logic  were  the  principal  studies.  The 
course  of  instruction  was  definitely  built  upon  that  of  the 
English  reading  and  writing  and  grammar  schools,  instead 
of  paralleling  these.  It  was  in  consequence  clearly  Ameri- 
can in  nature  and  purpose,  rejecting  entirely  the  English 
parallel-class-education  idea  of  the  Latin  grammar  school. 
The  aim  of  the  school,  too,  as  stated  in  the  report  of  the  com- 
mittee, was  quite  practical.     This  aim  was  restated  in  the 


192 


EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 


Regulations  of  the  School  Committee  for  the  school,  adopted 
in  1833,  which  read: 

It  was  instituted  in  1821,  with  the  design  of  furnishing  the  young 
men  of  the  city  who  are  not  intended  for  a  collegiate  course  of 
study,  and  who  have  enjoyed  the  usual  advantages  of  the  other 
public  schools,  with  the  means  of  completing  a  good  English  edu- 
cation to  fit  them  for  active  life  or  qualify  them  for  eminence  in 
private  or  public  station. 


12,000 


9,000 


6,000 


8,000 


1630  1650       1700       1750       1800       1850       1900  1916 

Fig.  33.  The  Development  of  Secondary  Schools  in  the  United  States 

The  transitional  character  of  the  Academy  is  well  shown  in  this  diagram. 

Josiah  Quincy,  who  was  mayor  of  Boston  at  the  time  of  the 
establishment  of  the  school,  gives  further  corroborative  evi- 
dence, in  his  Municipal  History  of  the  Town  and  City  of 
Boston,  as  to  the  purpose  in  establishing  the  new  high  school. 
He  says: 

In  1820  an  English  Classical  School  was  established,  having  for 
its  object  to  enable  the  mercantile  and  mechanical  classes  to 
obtain  an  education  adapted  for  those  children,  whom  their  parents 
wished  to  qualify  for  active  life,  and  thus  relieve  them  from  the 
necessity  of  incurring  the  expense  incident  to  private  academies. 


BATTLE  TO  EXTEND  THE  SYSTEM  193 

The  free  public  high  school  thus  arose,  to  provide  at  pub- 
lic expense  what  the  public  schools  had  failed  to  provide, 
and  had  been  provided  privately.  The  history  of  many  an 
extension  of  public  education  since  that  day  has  had  a  simi- 
lar origin. 

This  same  conception  of  the  aim  and  purpose  of  the  new 
high  school  is  well  expressed  in  the  First  Annual  Report 
of  the  High  School  Society  of  New  York  City,  which  opened 
a  public  high  school  there  in  1825.    This  document  reads: 

It  should  never  be  forgotten,  that  the  grand  object  of  this  insti- 
tution is  to  prepare  the  boys  for  such  advancement,  and  such  pur- 
suits in  life,  as  they  are  destined  to  after  leaving  it.  All  who  enter 
the  school  do  not  intend  to  remain  for  the  same  period  of  time  — 
and  many  who  leave  it  expect  to  enter  immediately  upon  the  active 
business  of  life.  It  is  very  plain  that  these  circumstances  must 
require  corresponding  classifications  of  scholars  and  of  studies. 

Some  pursuits  are  nevertheless  common  to  all.  All  the  scholars 
in  this  department  attend  to  Spelling,  Writing,  Arithmetic, 
Geography,  Elocution,  Composition,  Drawing,  Philosophy,  Nat- 
ural History,  and  Book-Keeping.  Philosophy  and  Natural  His- 
tory are  taught  chiefly  by  lectures  and  by  questions;  and  these 
branches,  together  with  Elocution  and  Composition,  are  severally 
attended  to  one  day  in  every  week. 

The  Massachusetts  Law  of  1827.  Though  Portland, 
Maine,  established  a  high  school  in  1821;  Worcester,  Massa- 
chusetts, in  1824;  and  New  Bedford,  Haverhill,  and  Salem, 
Massachusetts,  in  1827;  copying  the  Boston  idea,  the  real 
beginning  of  the  American  high  school  as  a  distinct  insti- 
tution dates  from  the  Massachusetts  Law  of  1827,  enacted 
through  the  influence  of  James  G.  Carter.  This  law  formed 
the  basis  of  all  subsequent  legislation  in  Massachusetts,  and 
deeply  influenced  development  in  other  States.  The  law 
is  significant  in  that  it  required  a  high  school  in  every  town 
having  500  families  or  over,  in  which  should  be  taught 
United  States  history,  bookkeeping,  algebra,  geometry, 
and  surveying,  while  in  every  town  having  4000  inhabitants 
or  over,  instruction  in  Greek,  Latin,  history,  rhetoric,  and 


194         EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

logic  must  be  added.  A  heavy  penalty  was  attached  for  failure 
to  comply  with  the  law.  In  1835  the  law  was  amended  so  as 
to  permit  any  smaller  town  to  form  a  high  school  as  well. 
This  Boston  and  Massachusetts  legislation  clearly  initi- 
ated the  public  high  school  movement  in  the  United  States. 
It  was  there  that  the  new  type  of  higher  school  was  founded, 
there  that  its  curriculum  was  outlined,  there  that  its  stand- 
ards were  established,  and  there  that  it  developed  earliest 
and  best.  With  two  or  three  exceptions  the  high  schools 
of  the  United  States,  says  Inglis, 

owe  the  basis  of  their  aim,  theory,  and  practice  to  the  high  school 
first  created  and  earliest  developed  in  Massachusetts.  As  in  most 
other  educational  matters,  Massachusetts  led  the  way  in  the  older 
Latin  grammar  school  education  and  in  the  newer  type  of  second- 
ary education  —  the  public  high  school.  It  is  all  the  more  to 
her  glory  that  no  direct  influence  from  other  countries  has  been 
traced  in  regard  to  the  high  school  system.  The  American  high 
school  was  an  institution  peculiarly  adapted  to  the  needs  and 
wants  of  the  American  people,  and  is  an  everlasting  tribute  to  the 
democracy  of  Massachusetts  and  America. 

Among  the  early  high  schools  established  before  1850,  the 
dates  of  which  seem  certain,  may  be  mentioned  the  fol- 
lowing: 

1821.  Boston,  Mass.  1838.  Philadelphia,  Pa. 
Portland,  Me.  Cambridge,  Mass. 

1824.  Worcester,  Mass.  Taunton,  Mass. 

1825.  New  York  City.  1839.  Buffalo,  N.Y. 

1826.  Boston  H.  S.  for  Girls  (abold.  1841.  Springfield,  Mass. 

1828).  1842.  Binghampton,  N.Y. 

1827.  New  Bedford,  Mass.   (abold.       1843.  New  Orleans,  La. 

1829).  Providence,  R.I. 

Salem,  Mass.  1844.  Detroit,  Mich. 

Haverhill,  Mass.  1845.  Chelsea,  Mass. 

1829.  Burlington,  Vt.  1846.  Cleveland,  Ohio. 

1830.  Fitchburg,  Mass.  1847.  Cincinnati,  Ohio. 

1831.  Lowell,  Mass.  Hartford,  Conn. 
1835.  Augusta,  Me.  1849.  Toledo,  Ohio. 

Brunswick,  Me.  Lynn,  Mass. 

Medford,  Mass.  Lawrence,  Mass. 

1837.  Pittston,  Me.  Lancaster,  Pa. 
Harrisburg,  Pa. 


«!  is 


Mr    <S 


8« 

as 


-  s  ~  - 


£5  ££i  £5  ££i  ££i 
£3  £fi  dfj  dfi  £fi 

£f]  t=l  t=Zl  d£i    " 


£f]££l££b££l  ^ 


Fio.  S4.  The  Fibst  High  School  at  Providence,  Rhode  Island 

Established  by  city  ordinance  in  1838.  In  1843  a  superintendent  of  schools  was  employed, 
this  building  dedicated,  and  the  high  school  opened,  with  the  superintendent  acting  as  its 
principal.  The  floor  plan  shows  how  completely  it  was  a  teaeher-and-tcxtbook  high  school 
Almost  all  high  school  buildings  erected  before  1800  were  of  this  type. 


196  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

The  struggle  to  establish  and  maintain  high  schools.  The 
development  of  the  American  high  school,  even  in  its  home, 
was  slow.  Up  to  1840  not  much  more  than  a  dozen  high 
schools  had  been  established  in  Massachusetts,  and  not 
more  than  an  equal  number  in  the  other  States.  The  Acad- 
emy was  the  dominant  institution,  the  district  system  for 
common  schools  stood  in  the  way  of  any  higher  develop- 
ment, the  cost  of  maintenance  was  a  factor,  and  the  same 
opposition  to  an  extension  of  taxation  to  include  high  schools 
was  manifested  as  was  earlier  shown  toward  the  establish- 
ment of  common  schools.  The  early  state  legislation,  as 
had  been  the  case  with  the  common  schools,  was  nearly  al- 
ways permissive  and  not  mandatory.  Massachusetts  forms 
a  notable  exception  in  this  regard.  The  support  for  the 
schools  had  to  come  practically  entirely  from  increased  local 
taxation,  and  this  made  the  struggle  to  establish  and  main- 
tain high  schools  in  any  State  for  a  long  time  a  series  of 
local  struggles.  Years  of  propaganda  and  patient  effort  were 
required,  and,  after  the  establishment  of  a  high  school  in  a 
community,  constant  watchfulness  was  necessary  to  prevent 
its  abandonment.  Many  of  the  early  schools  ran  for  a 
time,  then  were  discontinued  for  a  period,  and  later  were 
reestablished.  In  an  address  given  at  the  dedication  of  a 
new  building  at  Norwich,  Connecticut,  in  1856,  one  of  the 
founders  of  the  school  thus  describes  these  early  struggles 
to  establish  and  maintain  high  schools : 

.  .  .  The  lower  schools  up  to  the  grade  of  the  grammar  school 
were  well  sustained.  Men  were  to  be  found  in  all  our  communities 
who  had  been  themselves  educated  up  to  that  point,  and  under- 
stood, practically,  the  importance  of  such  schools,  in  sufficient 
numbers  to  control  popular  sentiment,  and  secure  for  them  ample 
appropriations  and  steady  support.  But  the  studies  of  the  high 
school,  Algebra,  Geometry,  Chemistry,  Natural  Philosophy, 
Ancient  History,  Latin,  Greek,  French  and  German,  were  a  perfect 
terra  incognita  to  the  great  mass  of  the  people.  While  the  High 
School  was  a  new  thing  and  while  a  few  enlightened  citizens  had 
the  control  of  it,  in  numerous  instances  it  was  carried  to  a  high 


BATTLE  TO  EXTEND  THE  SYSTEM  197 

state  of  perfection.  But  after  a  time  the  burden  of  taxation  would 
begin  to  be  felt.  Men  would  discuss  the  high  salaries  paid  to  the 
accomplished  teachers  which  such  schools  demand,  and  would  ask, 
"To  what  purpose  is  this  waste?"  Demagogues,  keen-scented  as 
wolves,  would  snuff  the  prey.  "  What  do  we  want  of  a  High  School 
to  teach  rich  men's  children?"  they  would  shout.  "It  is  a  shame 
to  tax  the  poor  man  to  pay  a  man  $1800  to  teach  the  children  to 
make  x's  and  pot-hooks  and  gabble  parley-vous."  The  work 
would  go  bravely  on;  and  on  election  day,  amid  great  excitement, 
a  new  school  committee  would  be  chosen,  in  favor  of  retrenchment 
and  popular  rights.  In  a  single  day  the  fruit  of  years  of  labor 
would  be  destroyed. 

The  struggle  to  establish  and  maintain  high  schools  in 
Massachusetts  and  New  York  preceded  the  development 
in  most  other  States,  because  there  the  common  school 
had  been  established  earlier.  In  consequence,  the  struggle 
to  extend  and  complete  the  public  school  system  came 
there  earlier  also.  The  development  was  likewise  more 
peaceful  there,  and  came  more  rapidly.  In  Massachusetts 
this  was  in  large  part  a  result  of  the  educational  awakening 
started  by  James  G.  Carter  and  Horace  Mann.  In  New 
York  it  was  due  to  the  early  support  of  Governor  De  Witt 
Clinton,  and  the  later  encouragement  and  state  aid  which 
came  from  the  Regents  of  the  University  of  the  State  of 
New  York.  Maine,  Vermont,  and  New  Hampshire  were 
like  Massachusetts  in  spirit,  and  followed  closely  its  ex- 
ample. In  Rhode  Island  and  New  Jersey,  due  to  old  condi- 
tions, and  in  Connecticut,  due  to  the  great  decline  in  educa- 
tion there  after  1800,  the  high  school  developed  much  more 
slowly,  and  it  was  not  until  after  1865  that  any  marked  de- 
velopment took  place  in  these  States.  The  democratic  West 
soon  adopted  the  idea,  and  established  high  schools  as  soon 
as  cities  developed  and  the  needs  of  the  population  war- 
ranted. In  the  South  the  main  high  school  development 
dates  from  relatively  recent  times. 

Establishing  the  high  school  by  court  decisions.  In  many 
States,  legislation  providing  for  the  establishment  of  high 


198 


EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 


schools  was  more  difficult  to  secure  than  in  New  England 
and  New  York,  and  often  when  secured  was  afterward  at- 
tacked in  the  courts.  In  most  of  the  States  shown  on  the 
map  in  Figure  35,  west  of  New  England  and  New  York,  the 
constitutionality  of  the  establishment  of  the  high  school 
or  of  taxation  therefor  was  at  some  time  attacked  in  the 
courts  and  decided  in  favor  of  the  schools. 


.  /^^r^^^^ 

s~~z~i\-v* 

^s  •                 «  / 

V  •.  * -Jc ,^~ 

•  •  • 

\'**yr] 

"V  *      i 

r     *  *  ' 

•  • 

•  ••:.;/ 

\ 

High  Schools 

in  1S60 

Fig.  35.  High  Schools  in  the  United  States  by  1860 

Based  on  the  table  given  in  the  Report  of  tlie  United  Stales  Commissioner  of  Education, 
1904,  vol.  ir,  pp.  1782-1989.  This  table  is  only  approximately  correct,  as  exact  information 
is  difficult  to  obtain.  This  table  gives  321  high  schools  by  1860,  and  all  but  35  of  these  were 
in  the  States  shown  on  the  above  map.  There  were  two  schools  in  California  and  three  in 
Texas,  and  the  remainder  not  shown  were  in  the  Southern  States.  On  the  321  high  schools 
reported,  over  half  (167)  were  in  the  three  States  of  Massachusetts  (78).  New  York  (41), 
and  Ohio  (48).  Compare  the  distribution  of  high  schools  shown  on  this  map  with  the  dis- 
tribution of  New  England  people  shown  on  the  map  on  page  73. 


One  of  the  clearest  cases  of  this  came  in  Michigan,  in 
1872,  and  the  verdict  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  that  State 
was  so  positive  that  it  influenced  all  subsequent  decisions 
in  other  States.  The  case  is  commonly  known  as  the  Kala- 
mazoo case.    The  city  of  Kalamazoo,  in  1873,  voted  to  es- 


BATTLE  TO  EXTEND  THE  SYSTEM  199 

tablish  a  high  school  and  employ  a  superintendent  of  schools, 
and  levied  additional  school  taxes  to  cover  the  expense. 
A  citizen  by  the  name  of  Stuart  brought  suit  to  prevent  the 
collection  of  the  additional  taxes.  The  case  was  carried  to 
the  Supreme  Court  of  the  State,  and  the  decision  was  written 
by  Chief  Justice  Cooley.  After  stating  the  case  in  hand,  the 
contention  of  the  plaintiff  that  high  schools  were  not  com- 
prehended under  the  heading  "common  schools,"  and 
that  the  district  board  should  supervise  the  schools,  and 
after  reviewing  the  educational  history  of  the  State,  the 
court  concluded:  . 

If  these  facts  do  not  demonstrate  clearly  and  conclusively  a 
general  state  policy,  beginning  in  1817  and  continuing  until  after 
the  adoption  of  the  present  state  constitution,  in  the  direction  of 
free  schools  in  which  education,  and  at  their  option  the  elements  of 
classical  education,  might  be  brought  within  the  reach  of  all  the 
children  of  the  State,  then,  as  it  seems  to  us,  nothing  can  demon- 
strate it.  We  might  follow  the  subject  further  and  show  that  the 
subsequent  legislation  has  all  concurred  with  this  policy,  but  it 
would  be  a  waste  of  time  and  labor.  We  content  ourselves  with 
the  statement  that  neither  in  our  state  policy,  in  our  constitution, 
nor  in  our  laws,  do  we  find  the  primary  school  districts  restricted 
in  the  branches  of  knowledge  which  their  officers  may  cause  to  be 
taught,  or  the  grade  of  instruction  that  may  be  given,  if  their 
voters  consent  in  regular  form  to  bear  the  expense  and  raise  the 
taxes  for  the  purpose. 

Having  reached  this  conclusion,  we  shall  spend  no  time  upon 
the  objection  that  the  district  in  question  had  no  authority  to 
appoint  a  superintendent  of  schools,  and  that  the  duties  of  the 
superintendency  should' be  performed  by  the  district  board.  We 
think  the  power  to  make  the  appointment  was  incident  to  the  full 
control  which  by  law  the  board  had  over  the  schools  of  the  district, 
anrl  that  the  board  and  the  people  of  the  district  have  been  wisely 
left  by  the  legislature  to  follow  their  own  judgment  in  the  premises. 

In  almost  all  the  Upper  Mississippi  Valley  States  this 
decision  has  deeply  influenced  development.  In  more  than 
one  State  a  Supreme  Court  decision  which  established  the 
high  school  has  been  clearly  based  on  this  Michigan  decision. 


200  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

It  ranks,  therefore,  along  with  the  Massachusetts  law  of 
1827  as  one  of  the  important  milestones  in  the  establish- 
ment of  the  American  public  high  school. 

Gradually  the  high  school  has  been  accepted  as  a  part  of 
the  state  common  school  system  by  all  our  States,  and  the 
funds  and  taxation  originally  provided  for  the  common 
schools  have  been  extended  to  cover  the  high  school  as  well. 
The  new  States  of  the  West  have  based  their  legislation  on 
what  the  Eastern  and  Central  States  earlier  fought  out, 
though  often  the  Western  States  have  provided  separate 
and  additional  support  for  their  high  schools.  California 
is  perhaps  our  best  example  of  such  separate  support. 

7.  The  state  university  crowns  the  system 
The  earlier  colleges  —  Harvard,  William  and  Mary,  Yale 
—  had  been  created  by  the  religious-state  governments  of 
the  earlier  colonial  period,  and  continued  to  retain  some 
state  connections  for  a  time  after  the  coming  of  nationality. 
As  it  early  became  evident  that  a  democracy  demands  intel- 
ligence on  the  part  of  its  citizens,  that  the  leaders  of  democ- 
racy are  not  likely  to  be  too  highly  educated,  and  that  the 
character  of  collegiate  instruction  must  ultimately  influence 
national  development,  efforts  were  accordingly  made  to 
change  the  old  colleges  or  create  new  ones,  the  final  outcome 
of  which  was  the  creation  of  state  universities  in  all  the  new 
and  in  most  of  the  older  States.  The  evolution  of  the  state 
university,  as  the  crowning  head  of  the  free  public  school 
system  of  the  State,  represents  the  last  phase  which  we 
shall  trace  of  the  struggle  of  democracy  to  create  a  system 
of  schools  suited  to  its  peculiar  needs. 

The  colonial  colleges.  The  close  of  the  colonial  period 
found  the  colonies  possessed  of  nine  colleges.  These,  with 
the  dates  of  their  foundation,  the  colony  founding  them, 
and  the  religious  denomination  they  chiefly  represented 
were: 

1636.  Harvard  College  Massachusetts         Puritan 

1693.  William  and  Mary  Virginia  Anglican 


BATTLE  TO  EXTEND  THE  SYSTEM  201 

1701.  Yale  College  Connecticut  Congregational 

1746.  Princeton  New  Jersey  Presbyterian 

1753-55.  Academy  and  College  Pennsylvania  Non-denominational 

1754.  King's  College  (Columbia)  New  York  Anglican 

1764.  Brown  Rhode  Island  Baptist 

1766.  Rutgers  New  Jersey  Reformed  Dutch 

1769.  Dartmouth  New  Hampshire  Congregational 

The  religious  purpose  had  been  dominant  in  the  founding 
of  each  institution,  though  there  was  a  gradual  shading-off 
in  strict  denominational  control  and  insistence  upon  religious 
conformity  in  the  foundations  after  1750.  Still  the  prime 
purpose  in  the  founding  of  each  was  to  train  up  a  learned 
and  godly  body  of  ministers,  the  earlier  congregations,  at 
least,  "  dreading  to  leave  an  illiterate  ministry  to  the  churches 
when  our  present  ministers  shall  lie  in  the  dust."  In  a  pam- 
phlet, published  in  1754,  President  Clap  of  Yale  declared 
that  "Colleges  are  Societies  of  Ministers,  for  training  up 
Persons  for  the  Work  of  the  Ministry"  and  that  "The  great 
design  of  founding  this  School  (Yrale),  was  to  Educate  Min- 
isters in  our  own  Way"  In  the  advertisement  published 
in  the  New  York  papers  announcing  the  opening  of  King's 
College,  in  1754,  it  was  stated  that: 

TV.  The  chief  Thing  that  is  aimed  at  in  this  College,  is,  to  teach 
and  engage  the  Children  to  know  God  in  Jesus  Christy  and  to  love 
and  serve  him  in  all  Sobriety,  Godliness,  and  Richness  of  Life,  with  a 
perfect  Heart  and  a  Willing  Mind :  and  to  train  them  up  in  all 
Virtuous  Habits,  and  all  such  useful  Knowledge  as  may  render 
them  creditable  to  their  Families  and  Friends,  Ornaments  to  their 
Country,  and  useful  to  the  Public  Weal  in  their  generation. 

These  colonial  institutions  were  all  small.  For  the  first 
fifty  years  of  Harvard's  history  the  attendance  at  the  college 
seldom  exceeded  twenty,  and  the  President  did  all  the 
teaching.  The  first  assistant  teacher  (tutor)  was  not  ap- 
pointed until  1699,  and  the  first  professor  not  until  1721, 
when  a  professorship  of  divinity  was  endowed.  By  1800 
the  instruction  was  conducted  by  the  President  and  three 
professors  —  divinity,  mathematics,  and  "Oriental  lan- 
guages" —  assisted  by  a  few  tutors  who  received  only  class 


202  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

fees,  and  the  graduating  classes  seldom  exceeded  forty.  The 
course  was  four  years  in  length,  and  all  students  studied 
the  same  subjects.  The  first  three  years  were  given  largely 
to  the  so-called  "Oriental  languages"  —  Hebrew,  Greek, 
and  Latin.  In  addition,  Freshmen  studied  arithmetic; 
Sophomores,  algebra,  geometry,  and  trigonometry;  and 
Juniors,  natural  (book)  science;  and  all  were  given  much 
training  in  oratory,  and  some  general  history  was  added. 
The  Senior  year  was  given  mainly  to  ethics,  philosophy,  and 
Christian  evidences.  The  instruction  in  the  eight  other 
older  colleges,  before  1800,  was  not  materially  different. 

National  interest  in  higher  education.  One  of  Washing- 
ton's most  cherished  ideas,  and  one  warmly  advocated  by 
many  leading  citizens  of  the  time,  was  that  the  new  govern- 
ment should  found  a  National  University  at  the  seat  of  the 
Federal  Government, 

where  the  youth  from  all  parts  of  the  United  States  might  receive 
the  polish  of  erudition  in  the  arts,  sciences,  and  belles-lettres  .  . . 
and  where,  during  .  .  .  the  juvenal  period  of  life,  when  friendships 
are  formed,  and  habits  established,  that  stick  by  one,  the  youth 
or  young  men  from  different  parts  of  the  United  States  would  be 
assembled  together,  and  would  by  degrees  discover  that  there  was 
not  that  cause  for  those  jealousies  and  prejudices  which  one  part 
of  the  TJnion  had  imbibed  against  another  part. 

Washington  repeatedly  called  the  matter  to  the  attention 
of  Congress,  as  did  Presidents  Adams,  Madison,  Monroe, 
and  the  second  Adams;  a  square  of  land  was  at  one  time  set 
aside  at  the  National  Capital  for  the  new  institution  and 
was  officially  designated  as  University  Square;  and  Wash- 
ington, in  his  will  (1799),  left  a  substantial  sum  to  the 
Government  of  the  United  States,  in  trust,  to  start  the 
endowment  of  the  new  university.  For  reasons  hard  to 
understand  nothing  ever  came  of  the  idea,  and  nothing  is 
known  to-day  as  to  what  became  of  the  money  which 
Washington  left. 

Immediately  after  the  close  of  the  Revolutionary  War 
settlers  began  to  move  to  the  new  territory  along  the  Ohio, 


BATTLE  TO  EXTEND  THE  SYSTEM  203 

and  when  the  sale  of  1,500,000  acres  of  land  in  south  central 
Ohio  was  made  by  Congress,  in  1787,  to  "The  Ohio  Com- 
pany," a  New  England  organization,  the  company  was 
granted  section  16  for  schools,  section  29  for  religion,  and, 
upon  its  request,  two  whole  townships  (72  sections,  — 
46,080  acres)  "for  the  purposes  of  a  university."  In  1803 
the  new  State  of  Ohio  was  granted  another  township  (36 
sections)  "for  the  purposes  of  establishing  an  academy  in  the 
district  of  Cincinnati,"  which  district  had  also  been  settled 
by  New  England  people.  The  former  of  these  grants  formed 
the  original  endowment  of  Ohio  University,  at  Athens,  and 
the  latter  the  endowment  of  Miami  University,  at  Oxford 
—  the  first  state  universities  in  the  new  West.  The  grant 
of  two  or  more  whole  townships  of  land  "for  a  seminary  of 
learning,"  or  "state  university,"  begun  by  Congress  as  a 
land-selling  proposition  in  the  case  of  Ohio,  was  continued 
with  the  admission  of  each  new  State  afterward,  and  these 
township  grants  for  a  seminary  of  learning  formed  the  begin- 
ning of  the  state  universities  which  were  created  in  all  the 
new  Western  and  Southern  States. 

Growth  of  colleges  by  i860.  Fifteen  additional  colleges 
were  founded  before  1800,  and  it  has  been  estimated  that  by 
that  date  the  two  dozen  American  colleges  then  existing  did 
not  have  all  told  over  one  hundred  professors  and  instruc- 
tors, not  less  than  one  thousand  nor  more  than  two  thousand 
students,  or  property  worth  over  one  million  dollars.  Their 
graduating  classes  were  small  (p.  80).  No  one  of  the 
twenty-four  admitted  women  in  any  way  to  its  privileges. 
After  1820,  with  the  firmer  establishment  of  the  Nation, 
the  awakening  of  a  new  national  consciousness,  the  develop- 
ment of  larger  national  wealth,  and  a  court  decision  (p.  206) 
which  safeguarded  the  endowments,  interest  in  the  found- 
ing of  new  colleges  perceptibly  quickened,  as  may  be  seen 
from  the  table  on  page  204,  and  between  1820  and  1880 
came  the  great  period  of  denominational  effort.  The  map 
on  page  205,  shows  the  colleges  established  by  1860,  from 
which  it  will  be  seen  how  large  a  part  the  denominational 


204  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

colleges  played  in  the  early  history  of  higher  education  in 
the  United  States.  Up  to  about  1870  the  provision  of  higher 
education,  as  had  been  the  case  earlier  with  the  provision 

of   secondary    education   by 

mo^so1780.'.' .' ! ! .' : : .' ; .' ' ; ' !  *?  the  academies,  had  been  left 

1790-99 ........ . ..... 7  largely     to     private     effort. 

i  s?oI?q ?  There  were,  to  be  sure,  a  few 

1820-29 ! . . . ! . . . . . . . . . . . . .  22  state  universities  before  1870, 

1830-39 38  though  usually  these  were  not 

1850^59 92     Detter    than    the   denomina- 

1860-69 73    tional  colleges  around  them, 

] rro^sq 74  anc*  °^ten  tney  maintained  a 

1890-99 ..................  54  non-denominational  character 

Total 494  only  by  preserving  a  proper 

Colleges  founded  up  to  1900  balance  between  the  different 

(After  a  table  by  Dexter,  corrected  by      denominations  in  the  employ- 

to^^rrfcu"'^'  0nlyapprox-  ment  of  their  faculties.  Speak- 
ing generally,  higher  education 
in  the  United  States  before  1870  was  provided  very  largely 
in  the  tuitional  colleges  of  the  different  religious  denomina- 
tions, rather  than  by  the  State.  Of  the  246  colleges  founded 
by  the  close  of  the  year  1860,  as  shown  on  the  map,  but  17 
were  state  institutions,  and  but  two  or  three  others  had 
any  state  connections. 

The  new  national  attitude  toward  the  colleges.  After 
the  coming  of  nationality  there  gradually  grew  up  a  wide- 
spread dissatisfaction  with  the  colleges  as  then  conducted, 
because  they  were  aristocratic  in  tendency,  because  they 
devoted  themselves  so  exclusively  to  the  needs  of  a  class, 
and  because  they  failed  to  answer  the  needs  of  the  States 
in  the  matter  of  higher  education.  Due  to  their  religious 
origin,  and  the  common  requirement  that  the  president  and 
trustees  must  be  members  of  some  particular  denomination, 
they  were  naturally  regarded  as  representing  the  interests 
of  some  one  sect  or  faction  within  the  State  rather  than  the 
interests  of  the  State  itself.  With  the  rise  of  the  new  demo- 
cratic spirit  after  about  1820  there  came  a  demand,  felt  least 


206  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

in  New  England  and  most  in  the  South  and  the  new  States 
in  the  West,  for  institutions  of  higher  learning  which  should 
represent  the  State.  It  was  argued  that  colleges  were  im- 
portant instrumentalities  for  moulding  the  future,  that  the 
kind  of  education  given  in  them  must  ultimately  influence 
the  welfare  of  the  State,  and  that  higher  education  cannot 
be  regarded  as  a  private  matter.  The  type  of  education 
given  in  these  higher  institutions,  it  was  argued,  "will 
appear  on  the  bench,  at  the  bar,  in  the  pulpit,  and  in  the 
senate,  and  will  unavoidably  affect  our  civil  and  religious 
principles."  For  these  reasons,  as  well  as  to  crown  our  state 
school  system  and  to  provide  higher  educational  advantages 
for  its  leaders,  it  was  argued  that  the  State  should  exercise 
control  over  the  colleges. 

This  new  national  spirit  manifested  itself  in  a  number 
of  ways.  In  New  York  we  see  it  in  the  reorganization 
of  King's  College,  the  rechristening  of  the  institution  as 
Columbia,  and  the  placing  of  it  under  at  least  the  nominal 
supervision  of  the  governing  educational  body  of  the  State. 
In  Pennsylvania  an  attempt  was  made  to  bring  the  univer- 
sity into  closer  connection  with  the  State,  but  this  failed. 
In  New  Hampshire  the  legislature  tried,  in  1816,  to  trans- 
form Dartmouth  College  into  a  state  institution.  This  act 
was  contested  in  the  courts,  and  the  case  was  finally  carried 
to  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States.  There  it  was 
decided,  in  1819,  that  the  charter  of  a  college  was  a  contract, 
the  obligation  of  which  a  legislature  could  not  impair. 

Effect  of  the  Dartmouth  College  decision.  The  effect  of 
this  decision  manifested  itself  in  two  different  ways.  On 
the  one  hand  it  guaranteed  the  perpetuity  of  endowments, 
and  the  great  period  of  private  and  denominational  effort 
(see  table,  p.  204)  now  followed.  On  the  other  hand,  since 
the  States  could  not  change  charters  and  transform  old 
establishments,  they  began  to  turn  to  the  creation  of  new 
state  universities  of  their  own.  Virginia  created  its  state 
university  the  same  year  as  the  Dartmouth  case  decision. 
The  University  of  North  Carolina,  which  had  been  estab- 


BATTLE  TO  EXTEND  THE  SYSTEM  207 

lished  in  1789,  and  which  began  to  give  instruction  in  1795, 
but  which  had  never  been  under  direct  state  control,  was 
taken  over  by  the  State  in  1821.  The  University  of  Ver- 
mont, originally  chartered  in  1791,  was  rechartered  as  a 
state  university  in  1838.  The  University  of  Indiana  was 
established  in  1820.  Alabama  provided  for  a  state  univer- 
sity in  its  first  constitution,  in  1819,  and  the  institution 
opened  for  instruction  in  1831.  Michigan,  in  framing  its 
first  constitution   preparatory  to  entering  the  Union,   in 

1835,  made  careful  provisions  for  the  safeguarding  of  the 
state  university  and  for  establishing  it  as  an  integral  part 
of  its  state  school  system,  as  Indiana  had  done  in  1816. 
Wisconsin  provided  for  the  creation  of  a  state  university  in 

1836,  and  embodied  the  idea  in  its  first  constitution  when 
it  entered  the  Union  in  1848,  and  Missouri  provided  for  a 
state  university  in  1839,  Mississippi  in  1844,  Iowa  in  1847, 
and  Florida  in  1856.  The  state  university  is  to-day  found 
in  every  "new"  State  and  in  some  of  the  "original"  States, 
and  practically  every  new  Western  and  Southern  State  fol- 
lowed the  patterns  set  by  Indiana,  Michigan,  and  Wisconsin 
and  made  careful  provision  for  the  establishment  and  main- 
tenance of  a  state  university  in  its  first  state  constitution. 

There  was  thus  quietly  added  another  new  section  to  the 
American  educational  ladder,  and  the  free  public  school 
system  was  extended  farther  upward.  Though  the  great 
period  of  state  university  foundation  came  after  1860,  and 
the  great  period  of  state  university  expansion  after  1885, 
the  beginnings  were  clearly  marked  early  in  our  national 
history.  Of  the  sixteen  States  having  state  universities  by 
1860  (see  Fig.  36),  all  except  Florida  had  established  them 
before  1850.  For  a  long  time  small,  poorly  supported  by 
the  States,  much  like  the  church  colleges  about  them  in 
character  and  often  inferior  in  quality,  one  by  one  the  state 
universities  have  freed  themselves  alike  from  denomina- 
tional restrictions  on  the  one  hand  and  political  control  on 
the  other,  and  have  set  about  rendering  the  service  to  the 
State  which  a  state  university  ought  to  render.     Michigan, 


208  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

the  first  of  our  state  universities  to  free  itself,  take  its  proper 
place,  and  set  an  example  for  others  to  follow,  opened  in 
1841  with  two  professors  and  six  students.  In  1844  it  was 
a  little  institution  of  three  professors,  one  tutor,  one  assist- 
ant, and  one  visiting  lecturer,  had  but  fifty-three  students, 
and  offered  but  a  single  course  of  study,  consisting  chiefly 
of  Greek,  Latin,  mathematics,  and  intellectual  and  moral 
science.  As  late  as  1852  it  had  but  seventy-two  students, 
but  by  1860,  when  it  had  largely  freed  itself  from  the  incubus 
of  Baptist  Latin,  Congregational  Greek,  Methodist  intel- 
lectual philosophy,  Presbyterian  astronomy,  and  Whig 
mathematics,  and  its  remarkable  growth  as  a  state  univer- 
sity had  begun,  it  enrolled  five  hundred  and  nineteen. 

The  rise  of  professional  instruction.  The  colonial  col- 
leges, as  has  been  pointed  out,  were  largely  training  schools 
for  the  ministry,  and  this  long  continued  to  be  their  one 
professional  purpose.  It  was  largely  because  of  this  that  so 
many  of  the  early  leaders  in  education  —  Stowe,  Pierce, 
Hall,  and  Bateman,  —  among  others  —  were  men  who  had 
been  trained  for  the  ministry.  It  was  not  until  1812  that 
theology  was  separated  off  in  a  school  by  itself  at  Princeton, 
1819  at  Harvard,  and  1822  at  Yale. 

The  first  professional  instruction  to  be  added  by  the  early 
universities  was  medicine,  a  medical  school  being  established 
at  Pennsylvania  as  early  as  1765,  King's  in  1767,  Harvard 
in  1782,  Dartmouth  in  1798,  the  University  of  Maryland 
department  of  medicine  and  the  College  of  Physicians  and 
Surgeons  at  New  York  both  being  established  in  1807,  and 
at  Yale  in  1813.  Out  of  the  instruction  in  medicine  came 
chemistry,  the  mother  of  modern  science  instruction,  the 
first  professors  of  this  subject  being  at  William  and  Mary  in 
1774,  Princeton  in  1795,  Columbia  in  1802,  and  Yale  in  1803. 
The  first  law  school  in  the  United  States  was  a  private  one 
conducted  by  a  judge  in  his  office,  at  Litchfield,  Connecticut, 
from  1784  to  1833,  and  to  this  many  students  went  for 
practical  training.  The  first  permanent  instruction  in  law 
by  a  university  came  with  the  establishment  of  the  law 


BATTLE  TO  EXTEND  THE  SYSTEM  209 

faculty  of  the  University  of  Maryland,  in  1812,  and  the 
opening  of  a  law  school  at  Harvard  in  1817,  Yale  in  1824, 
and  the  University  of  Virginia  in  1826.  The  medical  and 
law  schools  of  colonial  times  were  the  offices  of  practicing 
physicians  and  lawyers.  Of  the  3000  physicians  in  practice 
in  the  United  States  at  the  close  of  the  Revolution,  but  51 
had  taken  degrees  in  America,  and  less  than  350  anywhere 
else.  There  were  no  lawyers  holding  degrees.  The  first 
technical  school,  the  Rensselaer  Polytechnic,  was  founded 
in  1824.  The  first  college  of  dentistry  was  opened  in  Balti- 
more in  1839,  and  the  second  at  Cincinnati  in  1845.  The 
first  college  of  pharmacy  was  opened  at  Philadelphia  in  1822. 
These  subjects,  now  so  common  in  our  state  universities, 
are  all  of  relatively  recent  development. 

College  education  for  women.  Another  change  in  the 
nature  of  instruction,  thoroughly  indicative  of  the  democ- 
racy of  the  West,  was  the  opening  of  collegiate  and  profes- 
sional instruction  to  women.  In  1800  women  could  not 
enter  any  college  in  the  United  States.  In  1821  Emma 
Willard  had  opened  a  seminary  for  girls  at  Troy,  New  York, 
and  in  1837  Mt.  Holyoke  Seminary  (later  college)  was 
opened  by  Mary  Lyon  in  Massachusetts.  These  mark  the 
beginnings  of  higher  education  for  girls.  By  1840  there  were 
but  seven  institutions  of  all  kinds  for  the  higher  education 
of  women,  but  by  1860  the  number  had  increased  to  sixty- 
one.  Perhaps  half  of  these  later  developed  into  colleges  for 
women.  After  the  Civil  War,  during  which  so  many  women 
filled  places  formerly  held  by  men,  and  especially  in  teach- 
ing, the  colleges  began  to  open  their  doors  somewhat  gen- 
erally to  women  students.  To-day  eighty  per  cent  of  the 
non-Catholic  colleges  are  open  to  women,  while  many  special 
colleges  for  them  also  exist. 

Mt.  Holyoke  Seminary  in  Massachusetts  (1837),  Rock- 
ford  Seminary  in  Illinois  (1849),  and  Elmira  College  (1855) 
and  Vassar  College  (1865),  both  in  New  York,  were  among 
the  earliest  of  the  larger  women's  colleges,  while  Oberlin 
College  (1833)  and  Antioch  College  (1853),  both  in  Ohio, 


210  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

and  the  state  university  of  Iowa  (1856),  were  among  the 
first  institutions  to  open  their  instruction  equally  to  men 
and  women.  Every  State  west  of  the  Mississippi  River, 
except  Missouri,  made  its  state  university  co-educational 
from  its  first  opening,  and  of  those  east  of  the  same  river  all 
but  three  have  since  followed  the  lead  of  Indiana  (1868)  and 
Michigan  and  Illinois  (1870)  in  opening  their  doors  freely 
to  women  students.  The  democratic  spirit  of  the  people 
west  of  the  Allegheny  Mountains  has  demanded,  as  the 
price  of  support,  equal  advantages  for  both  their  male  and 
female  children. 

The  new  land-grant  colleges.  In  1850  Michigan  peti- 
tioned Congress  for  a  grant  of  public  land  to  found  a  college 
of  agriculture,  and  in  1858  renewed  its  petition.  In  1859  a 
bill  passed  Congress  making  a  grant  of  20,000  acres  of  public 
land  to  each  State,  for  each  Senator  and  Representative  the 
State  had  in  Congress,  to  endow  a  college  of  agriculture  and 
mechanic  arts.  This  was  the  Fellenberg  manual-labor- 
seminary  idea  in  a  new  form,  with  the  manual-labor-support 
of  students  omitted.  President  Buchanan  vetoed  the  bill 
because,  among  other  reasons: 

5.  This  bill  will  seriously  interfere  with  existing  colleges  in  the 
different  States,  in  many  of  which  agriculture  is  taught  as  a  science 
and  in  all  of  which  it  ought  to  be  so  taught.  These  institutions  of 
learning  have  grown  up  with  the  growth  of  the  country,  under  the 
fostering  care  of  the  States  and  the  munificence  of  individuals,  to 
meet  the  advancing  demands  for  education.  They  have  proved 
great  blessings  to  the  people.  Many,  indeed  most,  are  poor,  and 
sustain  themselves  with  difficulty.  What  the  effect  would  be  on 
these  institutions  by  creating  an  indefinite  number  of  rival  colleges 
sustained  by  the  endowment  of  the  Federal  Government  it  is  not 
difficult  to  determine. 

In  1862  a  similar  bill,  except  that  the  grant  was  increased 
from  20,000  to  30,000  acres  for  each  Senator  and  Repre- 
sentative, and  that  military  science  and  tactics  was  added 
as  a  third  required  study,  was  passed  by  Congress  and 
signed  by  President  Lincoln.    A  total  of  11,367,832  acres  of 


BATTLE  TO  EXTEND  THE  SYSTEM  211 

public  land  was  given  to  the  States  to  endow  institutions 
for  the  teaching  of  the  new  subjects  —  an  area  one  half  as 
large  as  the  State  of  Indiana — and  fifty-one  States  and  Ter- 
ritories, counting  Porto  Rico,  Alaska,  and  Hawaii,  now  re- 
ceive money  grants  from  the  National  Government  to  help 
carry  on  this  work.  Eighteen  States  added  the  land-grant 
to  the  endowment  of  their  existing  state  universities  and 
combined  the  two  institutions,  three  of  the  original  States 
(originally  five)  gave  the  grant  to  private  institutions  already 
established  within  the  State,  and  the  remainder  established 
separate  agricultural  and  mechanical  colleges. 

The  financial  returns  from  the  land-grants  were  disap- 
pointing, but  the  educational  returns  have  been  very  large. 
Probably  no  aid  for  education  given  by  the  National  Gov- 
ernment to  the  States  has  proved  so  fruitful  as  have  these 
grants  of  land,  and  subsequently  of  money,  for  instruction 
in  agriculture  and  the  mechanic  arts.  New  and  vigorous 
colleges  have  been  created  (Cornell,  Purdue,  and  the  state 
universities  of  Ohio  and  Illinois  are  examples);  small  and 
feeble  state  universities  have  been  awakened  into  new  life 
(Vermont  and  Wisconsin  are  examples);  agriculture  and 
engineering  have  been  developed  as  new  learned  professions; 
and  the  States  have  been  stimulated  to  make  larger  and 
rapidly-increasing  appropriations  for  their  universities,  until 
to-day  the  state  universities  largely  overshadow  all  but  the 
best  endowed  of  the  old  denominational  colleges.  The  far- 
reaching  educational  importance  of  the  Morrill  Act  of  1862, 
so  named  for  the  Senator  who  framed  and  sponsored  it,  is 
not  likely  to  be  overestimated. 

The  American  free  public  school  system  now  established. 
By  the  close  of  the  second  quarter  of  the  nineteenth  century, 
certainly  by  1860,  we  find  the  American  public  school  system 
fully  established,  in  principle  at  least,  in  all  our  Northern 
States.  Much  yet  remained  to  be  done  to  carry  into  full 
effect  what  had  been  established  in  principle,  but  every- 
where democracy  had  won  its  fight,  and  the  American  public 
school,  supported  by  general  taxation,  freed  from  the  pauper- 


212  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

school  taint,  free  and  equally  open  to  all,  under  the  direc- 
tion of  representatives  of  the  people,  free  from  sectarian 
control,  and  complete  from  the  primary  school  through  the 
high  school,  and  in  the  Western  States  through  the  univer- 
sity as  well,  may  be  considered  as  established  permanently 
in  American  public  policy.  The  establishment  of  the  free 
public  high  school  and  the  state  university  represent  the 
crowning  achievements  of  those  who  struggled  to  found 
a  state-supported  educational  system  fitted  to  the  needs 
of  great  democratic  States.  Probably  no  other  influences 
have  done  more  to  unify  the  American  people,  reconcile 
diverse  points  of  view,  eliminate  state  jealousies,  set  ideals 
for  our  people,  and  train  leaders  for  the  service  of  the 
States  and  of  the  Nation  than  the  academies,  high  schools, 
and  colleges  scattered  over  our  land.  They  have  educated 
but  a  small  percentage  of  our  people,  to  be  sure,  but  they 
have  trained  most  of  the  leaders  who  have  guided  our 
democracy  since  its  birth. 


QUESTIONS  FOR  DISCUSSION 

1.  Show  how  the  American  academy  was  a  natural  development  in  our 
national  life. 

2.  Show  how  the  American  high  school  was  a  natural  development  after 
the  academy. 

3.  Show  the  thoroughly  democratic  nature  of  the  new  high  schools. 

4.  Show  why  the  high  school  could  be  opposed  by  men  who  had  accepted 
tax-supported  elementary  schools.  Why  have  we  abandoned  such 
reasoning  now? 

5.  Explain  the  difference,  and  illustrate  from  the  history  of  our  educa- 
tional development,  between  establishing  a  thing  in  principle  and 
carrying  it  into  full  effect. 

6.  Show  why  it  was  natural  that  higher  education  should  have  been 
left  largely  to  denominational  effort  before  1860. 

7.  Was  the  early  argument  as  to  the  influence  of  higher  education  on 
the  State  a  true  argument?    Why? 

8.  What  would  have  been  the  probable  results  had  the  Dartmouth  Col- 
lege case  been  decided  the  other  way? 

9.  Explain  why  it  required  so  long  to  get  the  state  universities  started 
on  their  real  development. 


BATTLE  TO  EXTEND  THE  SYSTEM  213 

10.  What  would  have  been  the  effect  educationally  had  we  followed 
President  Buchanan's  reasoning? 

11.  Show  how  the  opening  of  collegiate  instruction  to  women  was  a  phase 
of  the  new  democratic  movement. 

12.  Show  how  college  education  has  been  a  unifying  force  in  our  national 
life. 

SELECTED  REFERENCES 

Barnard,  Henry,  Editor.  The  American  Journal  of  Education.  81  vols. 
Consult  Analytical  Index  to;  128  pp.  Published  by  United  States 
Bureau  of  Education,  Washington,  1892. 

Bradford,  Gamaliel.  "Mary  Lyon";  in  Atlantic  Monthly,  vol.  122,  pp. 
785-95.    (Dec.,  1918.) 

An  interesting  and  sympathetic  sketch  of  her  work. 

*Brown,  E.  E.  The  Making  of  Our  Middle  Schools.  547  pp.  Longmans 
Green  &  Co.,  New  York,  1903. 

A  standard  history.  Chapters  IX  to  XII  describe  the  academies,  and  chapters 
XIII  and  XIV  the  rise  of  the  high  schools. 

Brown,  E.  E.  "Historic  Development  of  Secondary  Schools  in  the 
United  States";  in  School  and  Society,  vol.  in,  pp.  227-31.  (Feb.  12, 
1916.) 

*Brown,  E.  E.  Origin  of  the  American  State  Universities.  45  pp.  Uni- 
versity of  California  Publications  on  Education,  vol.  3,  No.  1,  University 
Press,  Berkeley,  California,  1903. 

A  very  good  sketch  of  the  early  colonial  colleges,  and  the  rise  of  the  demand  for  state 
control.     Good  bibliography. 

Cubberley,  E.  P.,  and  Elliott,  E.  C.  State  and  County  School  Administra- 
tion ;  Source  Book.    728  pp.    The  Macmillan  Co.,  New  York,  1915. 

Chapter  II  gives  full  sources  for  the  endowment  of  the  state  universities  and  the  land- 
grant  colleges. 

Davis,  C.  O.  Public  Secondary  Education.  270  pp.  Rand  McNally  & 
Co.,  Chicago,  1917. 

Chapters  VII  to  IX  give  a  very  good  detailed  account  of  the  rise  of  the  academy  and 
the  high  school  in  Michigan. 

♦Dexter,  E.G.  A  History  of  Education  in  the  United  States.  656  pp.  The 
Macmillan  Co.,  New  York,  1904. 

Chapter  VI  on  the  growth  of  the  academies  is  a  brief  statement,  with  good  statistical 
data.  Chapter  XV  is  a  detailed  history  of  college  development,  and  Chapter  XVI  of 
professional  schools.  Chapter  XXI  is  a  good  history  of  the  education  of  girls  and  women 
in  both  public  schools  and  colleges. 

Draper,  A.  S.  "The  Rise  of  High  Schools";  in  hia  American  Education, 
pp.  147-56.     Houghton  Mifflin  Co.,  Boston,  1909. 

An  interesting  general  sketch  of  the  rise  and  change  in  the  character  of  the  secondary 
school. 


214  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

Hinsdale,  B.  A.  "Early  Views  and  Plans  relating  to  a  National  Univer- 
sity"; in  Report  of  the  United  States  Commissioner  of  Education,  1892-93, 
vol.  ii,  pp.  1293-1312. 

A  very  good  history  of  the  idea,  with  extracts  from  documents. 

"Inglis,  A.  J.      The  Rise  of  the  High  School  in  Massachusetts.     166  pp. 

Teachers  College  Contributions  to  Education,  No.  45,  New  York,  1911. 

An  interesting  and  excellent  description  of  the  rise  and  curriculum  of  the  high  school 
in  this  State. 

*Inglis,  A.  J.  Principles  of  Secondary  Education.  741  pp.  Houghton 
Mifflin  Co.,  Boston,  1918. 

Chapter  V,  pp.  161-202,  on  the  development  of  secondary  education  in  America,  forms 
excellent  supplemental  reading  on  the  evolution  of  the  high  school. 

'Monroe,  Paul.  Cyclopedia  of  Education.  The  Macmillan  Co.,  New  York, 
1911-13.  5  vols. 

The  following  articles  form  good  supplemental  references: 

1.  "Academy";  vol.  i,  pp.  19-23. 

2.  "High  Schools  in  the  United  States"  ;  vol.  in,  pp.  263-65. 

3.  "Women,  Higher  Education  of";  vol.  v,  pp.  795-810. 

4.  Articles  on  the  various  colleges,  and  their  founders. 

*Taylor,  Jas.  M.    "  College  Education  for  Girls  in  America  " ;  in  Educational 
Review,  vol.  44,  pp.  217-33,  325-47.     (Oct.  and  Nov.,  1912.) 
A  good  brief  historical  article. 

*Taylor,  Jas.  M.  Before  Vassar  Opened.  287  pp.  Houghton  Mifflin  Co., 
Boston,  1914. 

A  valuable  contribution  to  the  history  of  the  higher  education  of  women  in  America. 
The  first  two  chapters  contain  the  preceding  article. 

Ten  Brook,  A.  American  State  Universities  and  the  University  of  Michigan. 
410  pp.    Robert  Clark  &  Co.,  Cincinnati,  1875. 

A  history  of  the  origin  and  development  of  our  state  universities,  as  illustrated  by 
the  University  of  Michigan.    An  old  classic. 

Thompson,  Wm.  O.     "The  Small  College;  its  work  in  the  past";  in  Pro- 
ceedings of  the  National  Education  Association,  1900,  pp.  61-67. 
The  work  of  the  small  denominational  colleges. 

*Thwing,  Chas.  F.  A  History  of  Higher  Education  in  America.  501  pp. 
D.  Appleton  &  Co.,  New  York,  1906. 

A  very  important  volume.     Contains  detailed  histories  of  the  early  colleges,  traces 
the  rise  of  the  state  universities,  courses  of  study,  education  of  women,  etc. 

*Thwing,  Chas.  F.  A  History  of  Education  in  the  United  States  since  the 
Civil  War.    348  pp.    Houghton  Mifflin  Co.,  Boston,  1910. 

Chapters  V  on  the  "Course  of  Study,"  and  VII  on  "Changes  in  Collegiate  Conditions," 
contain  interesting  descriptions  of  the  changes  of  the  past  half-century. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

CHARACTER  OF  THE  SCHOOLS  ESTABLISHED 

Slowly,  as  we  have  seen,  and  after  a  series  of  conflicts, 
we  gradually  evolved  a  series  of  purely  native  American 
school  systems  to  replace  our  earlier  English  inheritance. 
These  extended  from  the  primary  school  through  the 
American-created  English  grammar  school  and  English  high 
school.  In  a  few  Southern  and  Western  States  —  notably 
Virginia,  the  Carolinas,  Georgia,  Indiana,  and  Michigan  — 
an  embryo  state  university  was  early  added  at  the  top.  In 
this  chapter  we  shall  examine  briefly  the  character  of  the 
early  schools  thus  established,  and  shall  seek  to  determine 
about  what  development  had  taken  place  in  our  city  and 
state  school  systems  before  the  outbreak  of  the  Civil  War 
for  a  time  materially  checked  our  educational  progress. 

I.  Evolution  of  the  Graded  Elementary  School 
The  American  school  of  the  3-Rs.  Toward  the  close  of 
Chapter  II  we  traced  the  rise  of  a  distinctively  American 
consciousness  after  1750,  and  the  beginnings  of  the  evolu- 
tion of  distinctively  American-type  schools.  This  move- 
ment was  checked  by  the  War  for  Independence,  but  after 
about  1820  came  out  again  in  full  force.  Even  before  that 
time  we  have  many  clear  indications  of  the  lines  along  which 
development  was  eventually  to  take  place.  As  schools  be 
fore  that  time  existed  in  their  best  form  in  New  England, 
and  as  New  England  people  carried  the  public  school  idea 
with  them  wherever  they  went,  we  naturally  turn  first  to 
New  England  to  see  what  types  of  schools  were  established 
there  after  the  coming  of  nationality. 

From  the  first  the  teaching  of  reading  and  writing  had 
been  a  common  requirement  in  all  the  New  England  colo- 
nies, excepting  Rhode  Island,  and  some  arithmetic,  though 


216 


EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 


often  quite  small  in  amount,  also  was  gradually  added.  The 
necessities  of  the  rural  districts,  where  separate  teachers  for 
writing  and  ciphering  were  not  possible,  forced  a  combina- 
tion of  the  teaching  of  these  three  subjects,  thus  forming  the 
American  school  of  the  3-Rs.  The  dame  school  covered 
the  needs  of  the  A-B-C-darians,  and  inducted  the  youngsters 
into  the  mysteries  connected  with  the  beginnings  of  learning 
to  read,  while  the  regular  winter  school  conducted  by  men 
teachers,  and  the  summer  school  by  women  teachers,  con- 
tinued the  instruction  in 
these  three  subjects  as 
long  as  the  boys  and 
girls  were  able  to  profit 
by  it.  With  the  short 
winter  term,  the  slow 
individual  method  of  in- 
struction, and  the  fa- 
mous books  by  Dilworth 
in  English  and  Arithme- 
tic to  fall  back  upon,  the 
learning  process  was  so 
long  drawn  out  that 
these  three  subjects,  with  the  spelling  of  words,  filled  up  all 
the  time  that  could  be  devoted  to  learning  by  most  children. 
These  arts,  too,  were  sufficient  for  almost  all  the  ordinary 
needs  of  life,  as  their  possession,  in  the  early  period  of  our 
national  history,  served  to  distinguish  the  educated  man  or 
woman  from  the  uneducated. 

New  textbooks  change  the  character  of  the  old  instruc- 
tion. Almost  immediately  after  the  close  of  the  Revolu- 
tionary War  a  long  series  of  native  American  schoolbooks 
began  to  appear.  These  not  only  replaced  those  of  English 
origin  previously  used,  but  also  materially  expanded  the 
course  of  instruction  by  reducing  new  subjects  of  study  to 
textbook  form. 

The  publication  of  Noah  Webster's  "  blue-backed " 
American  Spelling  Book,  in  1783,  a  combined  spejler  and 


Fig.  37.  A  Summer  School 

From  Bolles's  Spelling  Book,  1831. 


CHARACTER  OF  THE  SCHOOLS  ESTABLISHED    217 


reader,  marked  an  epoch  in  the  teaching  of  spelling  and 
reading.  It  was  after  the  plan  of  Dilworth,  but  was  thor- 
oughly American  in  character  and  put  up  in  better  teaching 
form.  It  at  once  superseded  the  expiring  New  England 
Primer  in  most  of  the  cities.  Spelling  and  word  analysis 
now  became  and  long  con- 
tinued to  be  one  of  the 
most  popular  subjects  in 
the  schools,  and  inter- 
school  "spelling  matches'* 
became  a  favorite  social 
amusement  of  both  the 
old  and  the  young.  So 
great  was  the  sale  of  the 
book  that  the  author  was 
able  to  support  his  family 
during  the  twenty  years 
(1807-1827)  he  was  at 
work  on  his  Dictionary  of 
the  English  Language  en- 
tirely from  the  royalties 
from  the  Speller,  though 
the  copyright  returns  to 
him  were  less  than  one 
cent  a  copy.  At  the  time 
of  his  death  (1843)  the 
sales  were  still  approxi- 
mately a  million  copies 
a  year,  and  during  the 
thirty-five-year  period  from  1855  to  1890,  when  the  copyright 
was  controlled  by  D.  Appleton  &  Company,  of  New  York, 
its  sales  still  averaged  865,419  copies  a  year.  In  1890  the 
American  Book  Company  took  over  the  copyright,  and  the 
book  may  still  be  obtained  from  them.  This  was  the  first 
distinctively  American  textbook,  and  the  most  popular  of 
all  our  early  schoolbooks.  Its  publication  was  followed 
by  a  long  line  of  spellers  and  readers,  the  most  famous  of 


KNOWLEDGE  and  FAME  are  gain'd  not  by  surprise; 
He  that  would  win.  must  LABOUR  for  the  prize: 
'Tie  thai  the  youth,  from  lisping  A,  B,  C, 
Attains,  at  length,  a  Master's  high  degree. 

Fio.  38.  Frontispiece  to  Noah  Web- 
ster's "American  Spelling  Book" 

This  is  from  the  1827  Edition,  reduced  one  third 
in  size. 


218 


EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 


which  were  Webster's  The  Little  Reader  s  Assistant  (1790); 
The  Columbian  Primer  (1802),  a  modernized  and  secularized 
imitation  of  the  old  New  England  Primer  (see  Fig.  30) ;  the 
Franklin  Primer  (1802),  "containing  a  new  and  ufeful 
felection  of  Moral  Leffons  adorned  with  a  great  variety  of 
elegant  cuts  calculated  to  ftrike  a  lafting  impreffion  on 
the  Tender  Minds  of  Children";  and  Caleb 
isB&L  Bingham's  American  Preceptor  (1794)  and 

ifiiKygk  Columbian   Orator    (1806).     The    Preceptor 

H  ■        was  a  graded  reader  and  soon  replaced  the 
VlfiPl       Bible  as  an  advanced  reading  book,  while 
W   \     the  Orator  was  one  of  the  earliest  of  a  long 
W    J     list   of   books    containing   selections   from 
T  poetry  and  prose  for  reading  and  declama- 

I  J  tion.  These  books  suited  well  the  new 
I  '  democratic  spirit  of  the  times,  and  became 
1  very  popular.  Selections  from  English  poetry 

^^^Jj/  and  the  patriotic  orations  of  Revolutionary 

'■^Iff  '  leaders  predominated.  Many  were  illus- 
trated with  cuts,  showing  how  to  bow, 
stand,  make  gestures  suitable  to  different 
types  of  declamation,  etc.  The  speeches 
of  John  Adams,  Hancock,  and  in  particular 
Patrick  Henry's  "  Give  me  Liberty  or  give 
me  Death"  were  soon  being  declaimed  in 
the  schoolhouses  all  over  the  land. 

The  English  Dilworth's  The  Schoolmaster's  Assistant, 
"being  a  compendium  of  Arithmetic,  both  practical  and 
theoretical,  in  five  parts,"  which  went  through  many 
American  editions  before  1800,  did  much  to  popularize  the 
study  of  arithmetic.  In  1788  Nicholas  Pike's  Arithmetic, 
the  first  American  text,  appeared.  It  was  a  voluminous 
work  of  five  hundred  and  twelve  pages.  It  was  soon  "ufed 
as  a  claffical  book  in  all  the  Newengland  Univerfities,"  but 
was  too  advanced  for  the  schools.  A  number  of  briefer 
American  arithmetics  soon  appeared  and,  in  1821,  with  the 
publication  of  Warren  Colburn's   First  Lessons  in  Arith- 


Fig.  39.  Making 
the  Prelimi- 
nary Bow  TO 
the  Audience 

From  Lovell's  The 
Young  Speaker,  1844. 


CHARACTER  OF  THE  SCHOOLS  ESTABLISHED    219 

metic  on  the  Plan  of  Pestalozzi,  another  famous  American 
textbook,  one  that  must  be  ranked  with  Webster's  Speller, 
appeared.  Arithmetic,  and  especially  mental  arithmetic,  now 
became  one  of  the  great  subjects  of  the  common  schools. 

These  early  books,  together  with  a  long  list  of  imitators, 
firmly  fixed  reading,  spelling,  declamation,  and  arithmetic 
as  the  fundamental  subjects  for  the  evolving  American 
common  school. 

New  subjects  of  study  appear.  New  subjects  of  study 
also  began  to  appear.  The  English  Dilworth's  A  New 
Guide  to  the  English  Tongue  had  made  the  beginnings  of  the 
teaching  of  English  word  usage,  and  in  1795  the  first  of  a 
large  number  of  editions  of  Lindley  Murray's  Grammar 
made  its  appearance.  This  was  soon  followed  by  an  almost 
equally  popular  text  by  Caleb  Bingham,  known  as  The 
Young  Lady's  Accidence  (1799).  The  title  page  of  this 
book  declared  it  to  be  "a  fhort  and  eafy  Introduction  to 
English  Grammar.  Defigned  principally  for  the  ufe  of  young 
Learners,  more  efpecially  thofe  of  the  FAIR  SEX,  though 
proper  for  either."  These  two  books  became  very  popular, 
were  extensively  used  and  imitated,  and  firmly  fixed  the  new 
study  of  English  Grammar  as  a  common-school  subject. 

The  publication  of  the  Reverend  Jedediah  Morse's  Geog- 
raphy, in  1784,  and  his  Elements  of  Geography,  in  1795, 
added  another  subject  which  also  became  very  popular.     In 

1821  the  first  little  booklet  on  United  States  history  ap- 
peared, though  some  historical  material  had  been  included 
in  the  earlier  readers  under  the  subject  of  Geography.  •  In 

1822  Goodrich's  A  History  of  the  United  States  was  pub- 
lished, and  this  at  once  leaped  into  popular  favor.  One 
hundred  and  fifty  thousand  copies  had  been  sold  by  1832, 
when  Noah  Webster's  History  of  the  United  States  appeared 
to  contest  its  popularity.  Both  these  histories  long  con- 
tinued popular  as  school  texts,  and  the  introduction  of  a 
study  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  by  Webster 
into  his  book  marked  the  beginning  of  the  study  of  Civics 
in  our  grammar  schools. 


S20  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

The  elementary-school  subjects  fixed.  The  publication 
of  these  new  texts  opened  up  entirely  new  possibilities  of 
instruction  in  the  evolving  American  common  school.  The 
teaching  of  the  old  subjects  was  greatly  enriched  and  ex- 
panded, while  the  new  subjects  made  possible  more  advanced 
instruction  and  the  upward  extension  and  lengthening  of 
the  common-school  course.  John  Howland,  founder  of  the 
Providence  schools,  writing  to  a  friend  in  1824,  said  that 
the  instruction  in  Providence  remained  as  prescribed  in 
1800  (p.  223),  except  that  grammar  and  geography  were 
soon  introduced.     Of  these  new  subjects  he  said: 

Up  to  this  time  I  had  never  seen  a  grammar  —  a  sorry  confes- 
sion for  a  school  committeeman,  some  may  think  —  but  observing 
that  The  Young  Lady's  Accidence  was  in  use  in  the  Boston  schools, 
I  sent  to  the  principal  bookseller  in  that  town,  and  purchased  one 
hundred  copies  for  the  use  of  ours. 

The  introduction  of  grammar  was  quite  an  advance  in  the  system 
of  education,  as  it  was  not  taught  at  all  except  in  the  better  class 
of  private  schools.  The  same  was  true  of  geography,  which  had 
never  been  taught  before.  I  sent  to  Boston  and  purchased  as 
many  as  were  wanted  for  our  schools.  Dr.  Morse,  of  Charlestown, 
had  published  the  first  volume  of  his  geography,  and  that  was  the 
work  we  adopted.  Many  thought  it  an  unnecessary  study,  and 
some  in  private  objected  to  it  because  it  would  take  off  their  atten- 
tion from  arithmetic.     But  it  met  with  no  public  opposition. 

A  race  now  began  between  arithmetic  and  the  new  subject 
of  English  grammar  —  a  race  unhappily  too  long  continued 
—  to  see  which  subject  should  take  the  place  of  first  impor- 
tance in  the  school.  Fact-geography  and  fact-history  also 
became  important  older-pupil  subjects.  Sewing  and  knit- 
ting also  became  common  subjects  of  instruction  for  the 
girls,  and,  as  the  culmination  of  such  instruction,  each  girl 
made  a  "Sampler,"  of  which  the  copy  opposite  is  a  good 
example.  These  were  made  on  linen,  though  in  the  girls' 
"boarding-schools"  elaborate  work  on  silk  was  sometimes 
executed.  The  name  "Sampler"  came  from  the  expected 
future  use  in  showing  the  proper  form  of  letters  to  be  used 


CHARACTER  OF  THE  SCHOOLS  ESTABLISHED    221 

in  marking  the  household  linen.  Much  attention  also  was 
paid  to  manners,  morals,  and  good  behavior.  These  repre- 
sented the  secularized  successor  of  the  old  religious  instruc- 


, -_- 1 

ABCDEFCHIJK 

LMNOPQRSTU 

VWXYZ.,234« 

abcdefghijklmnop  q  r 
stuvwyz.  7&MHf 

ab  c<i  e&  h  ijklmnop  qr  stu 
tlizabeth  "j£/3~  N«wboU. 


Fig.  40.  A  "Sampler" 

A  sampler  worked  on  linen,  in  the  possession  of  the  author,  which  was   made  in  a  girls' 
school  near  Bristol,  Pa.,  in  1813. 

tion.  It  now  became  common  to  give  to  the  children,  at 
the  end  of  the  term,  "Rewards  of  Merit"  for  good  conduct, 
which  read  somewhat  as  follows; 


222  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 


The  love  of  praise  was  planted  to  protect 
And  propagate  the  glories  of  the  mind. 

THIS  MA  Y  CERTIFY 

THAT    *j2asfae  SfaaA  'Htnchev  by  Aid.  good 

behavior,  diligence,  and  progress  in  study,  is 
entitled  to  the  increased  affection  of  /va  friends, 
and  the  applause  of  Aa  Instruct  *eu. 


stfuattAt  49t/i,   J  823. 


Fig.  41.  A  Reward  of  Merit 

By  1830,  certainly,  we  have  the  full  curriculum  of  our 
elementary  schools,  as  it  was  by  1860,  clearly  in  use  in  our 
better  city  systems.    The  subjects  were  these: 

For  the  younger  children         For  the  older  children 
Letters  and  syllables  Advanced  Reading 

Reading  Advanced  Spelling 

Writing  Penmanship 

Spelling  Arithmetic 

Numbers  Geography- 

Elementary  Language        Grammar 
Good  Behavior  Manners  and  Morals 

United  States  History  (?) 
For  the  girls 
Sewing  and  Darning 

Legal  aspect  of  this  course  of  instruction.  Many  of  the 
early  school  laws  enacted  by  the  different  States  provided 
for  instruction  in  these  subjects.  Massachusetts,  for  exam- 
ple, which  had  required  instruction  in  reading  and  writing 
in  the  law  of  1647,  added  orthography,  good  behavior,  the 
English  language  and  grammar,  and  arithmetic  to  the  re- 


CHARACTER  OF  THE  SCHOOLS  ESTABLISHED    223 

quired  list  in  1789,  geography  in  1826,  and  history  of  the 
United  States  in  1857.  Vermont  specified  reading,  writing, 
and  arithmetic  as  required  subjects  in  its  law  of  1797,  and 
added  spelling,  geography,  grammar,  United  States  history, 
and  good  behavior  in  1827.  New  England  people,  moving 
westward  into  the  North-West  Territory,  carried  these 
school  requirements  and  the  early  textbooks  with  them,  and 
the  early  schools  set  up  in  Ohio  and  Michigan  were  copies 
of  those  in  the  old  home.  Ohio,  in  its  first  school  law  of  1825, 
specified  reading,  writing,  and  arithmetic  for  all  schools,  and 
in  1831  permitted  the  cities  and  towns  to  organize  instruction 
in  other  subjects.  In  1848  geography  and  grammar  were  or- 
dered added  for  all  schools.  Michigan,  in  the  law  of  1827, 
virtually  adopted  the  Massachusetts  plan  for  schools. 

The  Lancastrian  schools,  which  were  so  prominent  be- 
tween about  1810  and  1830  in  the  cities  and  towns  of  the 
Middle  Atlantic  States,  and  to  a  degree  spread  to  all  parts 
of  the  then  Nation,  were  organized  to  give  instruction  in: 


Spelling 

English  Grammar 

Reading 

Geography 

Writing 

Religion 

Early  city  courses  of  study.  The  early  courses  of  study 
adopted  for  the  cities  of  the  time  reveal  the  same  studies  in 
the  schools,  as  well  as  the  beginnings  of  the  classification 
of  the  pupils  on  the  basis  of  the  difficulty  of  the  subjects. 
For  example,  the  course  of  study  and  the  textbooks  adopted 
for  the  schools  of  Providence,  Rhode  Island,  in  1800,  reads: 

The  principal  part  of  the  Instruction  will  consist  in  Spelling, 
Accenting  &  Reading  both  Prose  and  Verse  with  propriety  and 
accuracy,  and  a  General  Knowledge  of  English  Grammar  and 
Composition :  Also  writing  a  good  hand  according  to  the  most  ap- 
proved Rules,  and  Arithmetic  through  all  the  previous  Rules,  and 
Vulgar  and  Decimal  Fractions,  including  Tare  and  Tret,  Fellow- 
ship, Exchange,  Interest,  &c. 

The  books  to  be  used  in  carrying  on  the  above  Instruction  are 
Alden's  Spelling  Book,  1st  and  2nd  part,  the  Young  Ladies'  Acci- 


224  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

dence,  by  Caleb  Bingham,  The  American  Preceptor,  Morse's 
Geography,  abridged,  the  Holy  Bible  in  select  portions,  and  such 
other  Books  as  shall  hereafter  be  adopted  and  appointed  by  the 
Committee.  The  Book  for  teaching  Arithmetic  shall  be  agreed 
on  by  the  Masters. 

The  Scholars  shall  be  put  into  separate  Classes,  according  to 
their  several  improvements,  each  Sex  by  themselves. 

This  constituted  the  entire  printed  course  of  study  for 
Providence  in  that  day,  and  was  typical  of  the  time.  Com- 
pared with  the  hundreds  of  printed  pages  of  directions  which 
we  have  to-day,  the  simplicity  of  such  a  course  of  study  is 
evident.  Though  ungraded  in  character,  the  beginnings  of 
a  grading  of  schools  is  nevertheless  evident.  This  was  the 
so-called  "common  school."  It  presupposed  that  the  chil- 
dren should  have  learned  their  letters  and  the  beginnings 
of  reading  privately,  or  in  some  Dame  School,  before  enter- 
ing the  public  school.  This  requirement  was  common  be- 
fore the  coming  of  Infant  or  Primary  schools,  about  1825. 

In  New  York  City  the  schools  of  the  Free  School  Society 
were  at  first  organized  to  cover  only  the  work  of  the  3-Rs 
and  religion.  An  abstract  of  "the  employment  and  pro- 
gressive improvement  of  the  scholars  for  the  last  year," 
contained  in  the  Fourteenth  Annual  Report  of  the  Society, 
for  1819,  shows  that  of  the  1051  children  then  in  the  schools, 
1044  were  "known  to  attend  public  worship  on  the  Sab- 
bath," as  required  by  the  rules,  and  that  the  studies  pur- 
sued by  them  were  as  follows : 

297  Children  have  been  taught  to  form  letters  in  sand. 

615  have  been  advanced  from  letters  in  sand,  to  monosyllabic 

reading  on  boards. 
686  from  reading  on  boards,  to  Murray's  First  Book. 
335  from  Murray's  First  Book,  to  writing  on  slates. 
218  from  writing  on  slates,  to  writing  on  paper. 
341  to  reading  in  the  Bible 
277  to  addition  and  subtraction. 
153  to  multiplication  and  division. 

60  to  the  compounds  of  the  four  first  rules. 

20  to  reduction. 

24  to  the  rule  of  three. 


CHARACTER  OF  THE  SCHOOLS  ESTABLISHED    225 

This  shows  the  common  American  ungraded  3-Rs  school, 
taking  children  from  the  very  beginnings,  and  advancing 
them  individually  and  by  subjects,  as  their  progress  war- 
ranted. Such  schools  were  very  common  in  the  early  period. 
On  August  2,  1822,  a  committee  of  the  New  York  Society 
was  appointed  to  consider  and  report  "on  the  propriety  of 
instructing  some  of  the  oldest,  most  orderly,  and  meritori- 
ous of  our  scholars  in  some  of  the  higher  branches  of  an 
English  Education,  say  Grammar,  Geography,  History, 
Mathematics,  &c."  This  was  done  soon  thereafter  by 
changing  the  schools  for  a  time  to  a  pay  basis,  as  described 
on  page  147,  and  the  price  list  there  given  shows  that  the 
subjects  taught  at  that  time  were: 


Alphabet 

Grammar 

Bookkeeping 

Spelling 

Geography 

Mensuration 

Writing 

History 

Astronomy 

Reading 

Composition 

Arithmetic 

Needlework 

Boston  offers  another  illustration,  out  of  many  that 
might  be  cited.  In  1789  the  Town  Meeting  ordered  three 
writing  schools  and  three  reading  schools  established  in  the 
town,  for  the  instruction  of  children  between  the  ages  of 
seven  and  fourteen,  who  had  previously  learned  to  read, 
boys  to  be  admitted  all  the  year  round,  and  girls  only  from 
April  20  to  October  20  each  year.  The  subjects  to  be  taught 
in  these  schools  were: 

The  writing  school  The  reading  school 

Writing  Spelling 

Arithmetic  Accentuation 

Reading  of  prose  and  verse 
English  Grammar  and  Composition 

By  1823  the  study  of  geography  had  been  added  to  the 
instruction  in  the  reading  schools,  and  a  little  later  United 
States  history  also  was  added.  Each  school  building  con- 
tained two  rooms,  and  was  divided  between  the  two  depart- 
ments. The  upper  room  was  occupied  by  the  reading 
school,  and  the  lower  by  the  writing  school.     The  pupils 


226 


EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 


Schools 


.2  >2 

M      O 


English 
"High 

School 


J'l 

o 


were  interchanged,  thus  attending  two  schools  and  two 
teachers  each  day.  Children  were  admitted  to  these  schools 
from  the  Primary  Schools  for  beginners,  first  established 
(p.  97)  in  1818. 

The  beginnings  of  school  grading.  In  addition  to  the 
division  of  the  schools  horizontally  into  Primary  Schools 
and  English  Grammar  Schools,  and  the  subdivision  of  the 
latter  vertically  into  writing  and  reading  schools,  a  begin- 
ning of  classification  and  the  grading  of  pupils  had  been 
made,  by  1823,  by  the  further  subdivision  of  the  reading 
school  into  four  classes,  as  follows: 

Lowest  class:  Reading,  spelling,  accentuation. 
Second  class:    Same,  and  grammar  memorized. 
Third  class:      Same,  and  grammar  learned. 
Highest  class:  Same,  and  geography. 

This  made  four  classes  for  the  seven-year  course,  with  a 

three-year  primary  school  beneath, 
divided  into  six  classes,  and  clearly 
represents  the  beginnings  of  a  graded 
system  of  schools.  It  is  a  ten-year 
elementary-school  course,  begin- 
ning at  the  age  of  four.  In  1848 
the  reading  or  English  grammar 
schools  were  further  divided  hori- 
zontally by  putting  a  teacher  in 
charge  of  each  class,  and  in  1856 
the  same  plan  was  extended  down- 
ward to  the  primary  schools.  Figure 
42  shows  the  organization  of  the 
Boston  schools  by  1823,  as  de- 
scribed in  a  volume,  The  System 
of  Education  pursued  at  the  Free 
Schools  in  Bostont  published  that 
year. 

One  of  the  clearest  cases  of  the 
evolution  of  the  American  ungraded  common  school  into 
the  American  graded  elementary  school  —  clear  because  of 


Ages 
17 

16 

15 

14 

13 

12 

11 

10 


-Primary- — 
--Schools 


IT 

I 


T 
6 
5- 
4- 

Fig.  42.  The  Boston 
School  System  in  1823 

The  dotted  cross -lines  indicate 
class  divisions,  though  not  under 
separate  teachers. 


CHARACTER  OF  THE  SCHOOLS  ESTABLISHED    227 

the  presence  of  excellent  records  — is  afforded  by  the  city  of 
Providence,  Rhode  Island,  the  schools  in  which  began  in 
1800.  The  evolution  there  can  be  best  presented  by  the 
use  of  a  tabular  statement  taken  from  the  courses  of  study 
adopted,  which  shows  the  following: 


1800 

1820 

1828 

Common  School 

Common  Schools 

Primary  Schools 

(8-    ) 

(6-    ) 

(4-7) 

Reading 

Reading 

Reading 

Spelling 

Spelling 

Spelling 

Accentuation 

Punctuation 

Writing 

Writing 

Writing  Schools  (7- 

Arithmetic 

Arithmetic 

Reading 

Grammar 

Grammar 

Spelling 

Composition 

Writing 

Geography 

Arithmetic 

Bible 

Grammar 

1838 

1840 

1848 

Primary  Schools 

Primary  Schools 

Primary  Schools 

(4-7) 

(4-7) 

(5-7*) 

Reading 

Reading 

Reading 

Spelling 

Spelling 

Spelling 

Arithmetic 

Music 

Grammar  or  Writing 

Grammar  Schools       Intermediate  School 

School  (7-    ) 

(7-14) 

(7*-10) 

Reading 

Reading 

Reading 

Spelling 

Spelling 

Spelling 

Writing 

Writing 

Writing 

Arithmetic 

Arithmetic 

Arithmetic 

Grammar 

Grammar 

Music 

Geography 

Geography 

Geography 

Bookkeeping 

Bookkeeping 

Epistolary 

U.S.  History 

Composition 

Composition 
Practical  Ethics 
Constitution  U.S. 

228 


EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 


High  School 

The  branches  of  a  good 
English  education 


High  School  Grammar  Schools 

(14-17)  (10-14) 

List  of  20  high-       Reading 
school  subjects       Writing 

Arithmetic 

Geography 

Grammar 

Composition 

U.S.  History 

Declamation 

General  History 

High  School  (14-17) 
Same  as  in  1840 

This  creation  of  schools  of  different  grades  took  place 
largely  as  new  buildings  were  needed  and  erected.  With 
each  additional  building  in  the  same  district  the  children 
were  put  into  better  classified  schools.  This  same  division 
of  schools  for  purposes  of  grading,  as  new  building  facilities 
were  provided,  took  place  generally  over  the  United  States, 
between  1820  and  1850,  though  with  quite  different  results 
and  nomenclature,  as  the  following  twenty-five  selected 
cities  will  show.  The  numbers  in  parentheses  indicate  the 
number  of  years  assigned  to  each  school. 

Primary,  Intermediate,  Grammar,  High. 

Primary,  Intermediate,  Grammar,  High. 

Primary,  Middle,  High. 

Subprimary,  Primary,  Intermediate-Primary,  Sec- 
ondary, Grammar  (3),  High. 

Common  Schools,  enter  High  School  at  12. 

Common  Schools,  enter  High  School  at  13. 

Primary  (2§),  Intermediate  (2  h),  Grammar  (4), 
High  (4). 

Primary  (5),  Grammar  (6),  College  (4). 

Primary,  Junior,  Senior,  Academic. 

Primary  (3),  Junior  (3),  Senior  (3),  High  (3). 

Primary  (2),  Intermediate  (2),  Grammar  (3), 
High  (4). 

Primary  (3),  Junior  (3),  Senior  (3),  High  (3). 

Primary  (3),  Intermediate  (3),  Grammar  (3), 
High(4). 

Primary  (4),  Secondary  (4),  High  (4). 


Portland,  Me. 
Fall  River,  Mass. 
Lawrence,  Mass. 
Worcester,  Mass. 

Hartford,  Conn. 
New  Haven,  Conn. 
Providence,  R.l. 

New  York  City 
Kingston,  N.Y. 
Oswego,  N.Y. 
Rochester,  N.Y. 

Syracuse,  N.Y. 
Troy,  N.Y. 

Harrisburg,  Pa. 


CHARACTER  OF  THE  SCHOOLS  ESTABLISHED    229 

Philadelphia,  Pa.  Primary,  Secondary,  Grammar,  High. 

Newark,  N.J.  Primary  (3),  Grammar  (3),  High  (4). 

New  Brunswick,  N.J.     Primary  (4),  Grammar  (4),  High  (3). 

Cleveland,  Ohio  Primary,  Intermediate,  Senior,  High. 

Dayton,  Ohio  Primary    (3),   Secondary    (2),   Intermediate    (3), 

High. 

Toledo,  Ohio  Primary    (2),   Secondary    (2),    Intermediate    (2), 

Grammar  (2),  High  (3). 

Indianapolis,  Ind.  Primary  (4),  Intermediate  (4),  High  (4). 

Louisville,  Ky.  Primary    (4),    Intermediate    (3),    Grammar    (3), 

High  (4). 

Springfield,  111.  Primary,    Secondary,    Intermediate,    Grammar, 

High. 

Madison,  Wis.  Primary  (2),  Intermediate  (2),  Grammar  (2),  Sen- 

ior Grammar  (2),  High  (2). 

New  Orleans,  La.  Primary  (2),  Grammar,  High. 

The  division  of  each  school  into  classes.  The  first  step 
in  the  evolution  of  the  present  class-grade  organization  of 
our  schools  was  the  division  of  the  school  system  into 
schools  of  two  or  more  different  grades,  such  as  Primary, 
Intermediate,  Grammar,  etc.  The  above  table  shows  the 
results  of  such  division  for  twenty-five  of  the  larger  cities 
of  the  time.  This  began  early,  and  was  accomplished  gen- 
erally in  our  cities  by  1840  to  1845. 

The  next  step  in  the  evolution  of  the  graded  system  was 
the  division  of  each  school  into  classes.  This  also  began 
early,  certainly  by  1810,  and  was  fully  accomplished  in  the 
cities  by  1840.  It  began  by  the  employment  of  assistant 
teachers,  known  as  "ushers,"  to  help  the  "master,"  and 
the  provision  of  small  recitation  rooms,  off  the  main  large 
room,  for  their  use  in  hearing  recitations.  This  step  in  the 
evolution  of  the  graded  system  is  well  shown  in  the  drawing 
of  a  Providence  grammar-school  building,  given  on  p.  231, 
which  is  thoroughly  typical  of  the  period.  Due  to  its  later 
construction,  however,  the  two  schoolrooms  in  this  building 
were  smaller  than  was  the  case  in  earlier  constructions.  The 
New  York  school  building  of  1820,  shown  on  page  87,  was 
provided  with  252  seats  and  three  small  recitation  rooms. 
Boston  buildings,  in  1823,  carried  seats  for  approximately 


230  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

300  pupils,  and  each  room  had  a  master  and  two  ushers, 
but  by  1848  the  number  had  there  been  reduced  to  approx- 
imately 180  seats.  Each  grammar  school  in  Providence 
contained  two  separate  and  distinct  and  duplicate  schools, 
as  was  a  common  early  practice.     Each  school  was  under 


Usher"  and  his  Class 


The  usher,  or  assistant  teacher,  is  here  shown  with  a  class  in  one  of  the  small  recitation 
rooms,  off  the  large  schoolroom.  (From  Pierpont's  The  Young  Reader,  Boston,  1831.) 


the  control  of  a  master  and  one  male  or  two  female  assist- 
ants. Each  little  group  of  teachers  in  charge  of  a  room 
was  independent  of  the  other,  there  being  no  principal  for 
the  building.  Only  for  janitor  service,  heating,  and  repairs 
was  the  building  considered  as  one  school. 

The  third  and  final  step  in  the  evolution  of  the  graded 
system  was  to  build  schools  with  smaller  classrooms,  or  to 
subdivide  the  larger  rooms;  change  the  separate  and  inde- 
pendent and  duplicate  school  on  each  floor,  which  had  been 
the  common  plan  for  so  long,  into  parts  of  one  school  organi- 
zation; sort  and  grade  the  pupils,  and  outline  the  instruction 
by  years;  and  the  class  system  was  at  hand.     This  process 


Fio.  44.  Exterior  and  Interior  of  a  Providence,  Rhode  Island 
School 

This  wu  the  typical  grammar-school  building  of  about  1840.  Each  floor  seated  228  pu- 
pils, and  was  conducted  as  a  separate  school.  Boys  and  girls  were  here  seated  on  opposite 
sides  of  the  central  aisle,  though  the  usual  plan  was  to  give  one  floor  to  each  sex.  In  Bos- 
ton the  upper  floor  was  used  by  the  writing  school,  and  the  lower  floor  by  the  reading  school. 
Two  small  recitation  rooms  are  shown  leading  off  the  main  room,  for  the  use  of  the  assistant 
teachers. 


232  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

began  in  the  decade  of  the  thirties,  and  was  largely  accom- 
plished in  the  cities  by  1850.  In  the  smaller  places  it  came 
later,  but  usually  was  accomplished  by  or  before  1870.  In 
the  rural  districts  class  grading  was  not  introduced  until  the 
last  quarter  of  the  nineteenth  century. 

The  transition  to  the  graded  system  a  natural  evolution. 
The  transition  to  the  graded  system  came  naturally  and 
easily.  For  half  a  century  the  course  of  instruction  in  the 
evolving  common  or  English  grammar  schools  had  been  in 
the  process  of  expansion,  due  in  part  to  the  preparation  of 
better  and  longer  textbooks,  but  largely  through  the  addi- 
tion of  new  subjects  of  study.  The  school  term  had  been 
gradually  lengthened,  the  years  of  school  provided  had  been 
increased  in  number,  the  school  course  had  been  differenti- 
ated into  various  parts  or  schools,  the  master  and  his  assist- 
ants had  from  the  first  divided  up  the  work  in  each  room 
on  a  rough  age-and-grade  classification  basis,  and  the  entire 
evolution,  up  to  about  1830  to  1840,  had  prepared  the  way 
for  a  simple  reorganization  of  the  work  which  would  divide 
the  schools  into  seven,  or  eight,  or  nine  grades,  and  give 
each  teacher  one  grade  to  handle.  By  the  time  of  the 
beginnings  of  state  and  city  school  supervision  the  school 
systems  of  the  cities  only  awaited  the  touch  of  the  organizer 
to  transform  them  from  a  series  of  differentiated  schools 
into  a  series  of  graded  schools  that  could  be  organized  into  a 
unified  system,  with  a  graded  course  of  study,  and  unified 
supervision  over  all.  The  waste  in  maintaining  two  dupli- 
cate schools  in  the  same  building,  each  covering  the  same 
two  or  three  years  of  school  work,  when  by  re-sorting  the 
pupils  the  work  of  each  teacher  could  be  made  more  special- 
ized and  the  pupils  better  taught,  was  certain  to  become 
obvious  as  soon  as  school  supervision  by  teachers  began  to 
supersede  school  organization  by  laymen. 

As  new  buildings  were  erected  with  smaller  classrooms, 
and  as  the  large  classrooms  in  old  buildings  were  divided 
and  the  schools  reorganized,  the  graded  system,  with  a 
teacher  in  charge  of  each  class,  and  a  much  smaller  class  at 


CHARACTER  OF  THE  SCHOOLS  ESTABLISHED    233 

that  (55  to  75  were  common  sizes  at  first),  came  in  as  a 
perfectly  natural  evolution  and  as  a  matter  of  course.  There 
was  no  change  in  subject-matter,  as  that  had  become  fixed 
long  before.  There  was  no  material  lengthening  of  the 
course,  as  a  combined  course  of  seven  to  nine  years  had 
become  common  before  grading  had  been  fully  carried  out. 
There  was  also  no  change  in  method  or  purpose,  except  as 
the  coming,  about  this  time,  of  some  Pestalozzian  ideas, 
described  in  the  next  chapter,  tended  to  improve  all  method, 
and  except  as  the  elimination  of  sectarianism  and  the  estab- 
lishment of  state-supported  schools  tended  to  give  a  clearer 
consciousness  as  to  the  citizenship-aim  in  instruction.  Nor 
was  there  any  general  adoption  of  a  new  idea  in  organization 
from  abroad.  We  merely  evolved,  as  the  result  of  some- 
thing like  a  half-century  of  gradual  educational  develop- 
ment, the  common  and  purely  native  American  elementary 
school  which  we  have  known  for  so  long.  As  shown  in  the 
last  tabulation  given,  this  varied  from  seven  to  nine  years 
in  length,  with  eight  and  nine  years  as  the  common  numbers. 
The  primary  classes,  in  part  due  to  the  pressure  of  numbers, 
gradually  ceased  to  take  pupils  earlier  than  five,  and  later 
earlier  than  six,  outside  of  New  England,  and  the  present 
eight-year  elementary  school  (nine  in  New  England),  with 
a  teacher  for  each  grade,  was  evolved.  On  top  of  this  the 
English  high  school,  also  a  purely  native  American  creation, 
was  superimposed,  making  a  twelve  or  thirteen  year  course 
of  public  school  instruction,  which  was  tax-supported,  state 
controlled,  freed  from  sectarianism  and  the  pauper  taint, 
and  equally  open  to  all  the  children  of  the  State.  This  evo- 
lution is  shown  somewhat  roughly  in  Figure  23  (p.  99), 
and  was  fully  accomplished  by  1860  in  all  Northern  States. 
The  high  school  fitted  onto  the  graded  system.  In  the 
process  of  this  evolution  the  high  school  also  was  made 
thoroughly  democratic.  When  the  English  high  schools 
were  first  established  they  were  everywhere  built  on  top  of 
the  common  or  grammar-school  course,  the  evolution  of 
which  we  have  just  described.    The  Latin  grammar  schools, 


234  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

though,  as  shown  in  the  case  of  Boston  (Fig.  42),  as  well  as 
the  Classical  Course  in  a  few  cities  having  both  courses  in 
one  school,  took  pupils  at  an  earlier  age.  In  general  this 
was  confined  to  New  England,  though  San  Francisco,  as 
late  as  the  sixties,  admitted  pupils  to  its  Latin  high  school 
at  ten,  and  to  its  English  high  school  at  twelve.  By  1860 
this  differentiation  had  been  almost  entirely  abandoned  as 
undemocratic  and  undesirable,  and  high-school  courses  had 
been  based  on  the  completion  of  the  common-school  course 
of  study.  This  eliminated  the  last  vestiges  of  the  European 
class  educational  system  with  which  we  began,  and  put  in 
its  place  the  democratic  educational  ladder  which  has  for  so 
long  characterized  education  in  the  United  States. 

By  1860  the  English  high  school,  now  beginning  to  de- 
velop in  all  the  States,  had  clearly  begun  to  take  over  the 
work  in  English,  modern  languages,  history,  mathematics, 
and  the  physical  sciences  previously  taught  in  the  acade- 
mies, and  to  offer,  free  from  tuition,  the  subjects  of  study 
and  courses  of  instruction  which  for  so  long  had  been  found 
only  in  the  tuition  academies.  Still  more,  the  colleges  were 
gradually  forced  to  accept  these  new  subjects  as  equal  to 
the  old  Latin  and  Greek  for  admission,  as  is  seen  from  the 
following  table,  giving  where  and  when  each  new  subject 
was  first  accepted  for  admission  to  the  A.B.  college  course. 


Subject 

Date 

College  first 
accepting 

Latin 

1640 

Harvard 

Greek 

1640 

Harvard 

Arithmetic 

1745 

Yale 

Geography- 

1807 

Harvard 

English  Grammar 

1819 

Princeton 

Algebra 

1820 

Harvard 

Geometry 

1844 

Harvard 

^Ancient  History 

1847 

Harvard  and  Michigan 

'Modern  (U.S.)  History 

1869 

Michigan 

Physical  Geography 

1870 

Michigan  and  Harvard 

English  Composition 

1870 

Princeton 

Physical  Science 

1872 

Harvard 

English  Literature 

1874 

Harvard 

JViodern  Languages 

1875 

Harvard 

CHARACTER  OF  THE  SCHOOLS  ESTABLISHED    £S5 

The  colleges  thus  fitted  their  work  onto  that  of  the  re- 
cently evolved  English  high  school,  and  the  American  edu- 
cational ladder  was  now 
complete.  With  the  abo- 
lition of  the  rate-bill,  which 
by  1860  had  been  done 
everywhere  by  the  cities, 
and  which  still  existed  in 
the  rural  and  town  schools 
in  but  five  of  the  then 
thirty-three  States,  this 
educational  ladder  was 
finally  open  to  all  Ameri- 
can children  as  their  edu- 
cational birthright.  The 
two  requisites  for  the  climb 
were  money  enough  to  ob- 
tain freedom  from  work  in 
order  to  attend,  and  brains 
and  perseverance  enough 
to  retain  a  place  in  the 
classes. 


II.  The  Great  Day  of 
the  District  System 

The  second  and  third 
quarters  of  the  nineteenth 
century  marked  the  great 
day  of  the  district  system. 
By  1830  to  1835  it  was 
everywhere  in  control,  but 
after  1860  to  1865  its  seri- 
rus  defects  as  a  system  of 
school  administration  had 
become    evident    in    the 


Fio.  V>.  Tin;  American  Educational 
Ladder 

Compare  this  with  the  figure  on  p.  268  and 
the  democratic  nature  of  the  American  school 
system  will  be  apparent. 


cities,  and  wore  beginning  to  be  apparent  even  in  rural  dis- 
tricts.   Everywhere,  by  the  latter  dates,  there  was  a  ten- 


236  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

dency  to  limit  the  district  powers,  and  later  to  abolish  the 
system. 

The  cities  were  the  first  to  curb  and  subordinate  the  dis- 
trict and  perfect  a  unified  school  system,  and  we  shall 
accordingly  consider  city  school  organization  first. 

The  district  system  in  the  cities.  In  many  of  our  cities, 
especially  to  the  westward,  no  such  unified  system  of  school 
administration  as  that  described  for  Providence  existed. 
Instead,  the  district  system  of  school  administration  was 
introduced  into  the  different  wards  of  the  city.  As  the 
people  in  each  ward  felt  willing  to  provide  school  facilities  for 
their  children  they  were  permitted  by  law  to  call  a  meeting, 
organize  a  school  district  in  the  ward,  vote  to  erect  a  school 
building,  employ  teachers,  and  vote  to  tax  themselves  to 
maintain  the  school.  Some  wards  thus  had  public  schools 
and  others  did  not,  but  each  ward  so  organizing  was  allowed 
to  elect  its  own  board  of  school  trustees  and  to  control  and 
supervise  its  school.  In  many  of  our  older  cities  outside 
of  New  England,  particularly  those  which  at  first  were  set- 
tled by  New  England  people,  the  first  schools  began  under 
the  same  form  of  organization  as  the  regular  rural  district 
schools.  It  was  the  one  way  to  secure  action  in  the  pro- 
gressive wards  of  unprogressive  cities. 

The  different  cities  thus  came  to  contain  a  number  of 
what  were  virtually  country  school  districts,  each  maintain- 
ing an  ungraded  and  independent  district  school.  As  the 
city  grew,  these  ungraded  and  independent  schools  increased 
in  number  and  size.  Later  the  situation  became  impossible, 
the  city  was  unified  by  law  for  education  as  it  had  previously 
been  for  city  government,  a  city  board  of  education  was 
created  and  given  control  of  the  scattered  schools,  and  this 
board  employed  a  new  supervisory  officer,  now  becoming 
known  as  a  city  superintendent  of  schools,  to  unify  and 
supervise  the  schools.  The  early  educational  history  of  a 
number  of  our  cities  is  the  history  of  the  formation  of  a 
number  of  such  independent  district  schools  in  the  different 
wards  of  the  city,  and  their  later  unification  into  one  city 


CHARACTER  OF  THE  SCHOOLS  ESTABLISHED    237 


school  system.  It  is  from  this  that  the  old  term  "ward 
schools  "  has  come  down  to  us,  as  well  as  ward  representation 
on  the  city  school  board  and  too  frequently  ward  politics 
in  the  management  of  the  schools  as  well. 

Examples  of  city-district  consolidations.  The  cities  of 
Buffalo,  Detroit,  and  Chicago  illustrate  this  process  very 
well. 

The  first  schoolhouse  in  Buffalo  was  built  privately,  in 
1806,  and  burned  in  1813.  In  1818  the  first  tax  for  a  school 
in  Buffalo  was  levied  to  rebuild  this  school.  By  1832  six 
one-teacher  school  districts  had  been  organized  in  the  city, 
and  by  1837  there  were  seven.  The  city  by  that  time  had 
something  like  15,000  inhabitants.  That  year  the  first 
superintendent  of  city  schools  in  the  United  States  was 
appointed,  to  unify  and  supervise  these  seven  schools.  [,On 
the  full  establishment  of  the  free-school  system,  in  1839, 
the  number  of  dis- 
tricts was  increased 
to  fifteen,  to  supply 
deficiencies,  and  a 
school  was  ordered 
established  in  each, 
with  a  central  school 
for  instruction  in 
the  higher  English 
branches. 

The  city  of  De- 
troit is  another  ex- 
ample, of  a  some- 
what more  extreme 
type.  Here  the  dis- 
trict system  stood  in  the  way  of  school  organization,  and 
had  to  be  overthrown  before  any  substantial  progress  could 
be  made.  Private  and  church  schools  had  existed  there 
since  as  early  as  1816.  The  first  public  school,  though,  was 
not  organized  until  the  second  ward  took  action,  in  1838. 
Other  wards  not  being  willing  to  tax  themselves  for  schools, 


Fig.  46.  The  First  Free  Public  School  in 
Detroit 

A  one-room  school,  opened  in  the  Second  Ward,  in  1838. 


238  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

little  further  progress  was  made  until  1841.  In  that  yea* 
an  investigation  showed  that  there  were  27  schools  of  all 
kinds  in  the  city,  instructing  a  total  of  714  pupils,  and  1850 
children  of  school  age  without  any  instruction  whatever. 
Detroit  was  at  that  time  a  city  of  approximately  10,000 
inhabitants.  The  result  was  a  campaign  for  public  schools, 
and  a  petition  to  amend  the  city  charter  to  permit  the  or- 
ganization of  a  city  board  of  education  to  provide  schools 
generally  throughout  the  city.  This  was  bitterly  opposed, 
but  the  proposal  carried  at  a  city  election  and,  in  1842,  the 
legislature,  following  the  best  eastern  practices  of  the  time, 
abolished  the  district  system  in  Detroit  and  provided  for 
the  organization  of  a  unified  system  of  schools  for  the  city, 
under  a  city  board  of  education. 

Chicago  is  a  third  illustration  of  much  the  same  type  as 
Buffalo.  A  private  school  was  opened  there  as  early  as 
1816,  but  the  first  public  school  was  not  established  until 
1832.  The  town  was  incorporated  in  1833,  and  in  1835  a 
special  law  for  Chicago  established  the  Massachusetts  dis- 
trict system  in  the  city.  By  1837  there  were  5  schools  and 
828  children,  and  by  1844  there  were  8  teachers  and  816 
children,  the  enrollments  of  the  8  teachers  being  97,  75,  130, 
70,  131,  130,  110,  and  75  children  respectively.  By  1853 
there  were  7  district  schools,  employing  34  teachers,  and 
enrolling  3086  children,  or  an  average  of  91  children  to  the 
teacher.  The  schools  at  that  time  still  were  ungraded,  and 
practically  independent  in  methods,  textbooks,  and  plan. 
They  were  also  very  insufficient  in  numbers,  as  they  had 
been  provided  only  in  parts  of  the  city  where  the  demand 
for  schools  was  strong  enough  to  insure  the  voting  of  taxes. 
Thousands  of  children  were  being  turned  away  because  of 
lack  of  school  facilities.  In  1853  the  city  council  appointed 
a  city  superintendent  of  schools  to  unify  the  work  done  in 
the  districts.  He  at  once  graded  and  reorganized  the  instruc- 
tion, and  introduced  uniform  records  and  textbooks.  In 
1857  the  legislature  abolished  the  district  system  in  the  city, 
and  created  a  city  board  of  education  to  take  charge  of  the 


CHARACTER  OF  THE  SCHOOLS  ESTABLISHED    239 


schools.  This  established  one  city  school  system  for  the 
city.  In  1861  the  first  graded  course  of  study  in  Illinois 
was  provided  for  the  schools  of  Chicago. 

Many  other  cities  have  had  a  similar  educational  admin- 
istrative history,  but  practically  everywhere  the  district 
system  was  early  abolished,  and  to  its  early  abolition  and 
to  the  early  unification  of  the  school  system  the  great  educa- 
tional progress  of  the  cities  during  the  past  half-century  is 
largely  due. 

Rural  district  management.  As  was  stated  at  the  begin- 
ning of  Chapter  VI,  the  district  system  was  the  natural  sys- 
tem in  the  early  days  of  state  school  organization  and  con- 


w> 

m 

E 

& 

r 

-to 


1833  I860  1885 

Fig.  47.  How  the  District  System  organized  a  County 

From  Cubberley's  Rural  Life  and  Education. 

trol.  At  a  time  when  population  was  sparse,  intercourse 
limited,  communication  difficult,  supervision  practically 
absent,  and  isolation  the  rule,  the  district  system  rendered 
its  greatest  service.  It  provided  schools  suited  to  the  wants 
and  needs  of  country  people,  and  where  and  as  fast  as  the 
people  were  willing  to  support  them.  The  system  was  well 
adapted,  too,  to  the  earlier  ideas  as  to  the  nature  and  pur- 
pose of  education.  Schools  were  then  purely  local  affairs, 
and  the  imparting  of  a  limited  amount  of  information  was 
almost  their  sole  purpose.  Knowledge  then  was  power,  and 
the  schools  were  conducted  on  a  knowledge  basis,  undis- 
turbed by  any  ideas  as  to  psychological  procedure,  social 


240  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

needs,  or  by  the  civic  and  economic  problems  of  the 
present. 

Each  community  lived  largely  for  its  own  ends,  and  was 
largely  a  law  unto  itself.  Freedom  and  liberty  were  con- 
ceived of,  as  expressed  by  one  of  our  poets,  as: 

The  right  of  every  freeborn  man 
To  do  as  he  darned  pleases. 

Naturally,  under  such  conditions,  every  little  community 
felt  itself  competent  to  select  and  examine  its  teachers,  adopt 
its  own  course  of  study,  determine  the  methods  of  instruc- 
tion, supervise  and  criticise  the  teacher,  and  determine  all 
such  matters  as  boarding-around  arrangements,  tax  rate, 
and  length  of  term.  The  three  district  trustees,  with  the 
people  in  district  meeting,  exercised  very  important  func- 
tions in  guiding  the  Ship  of  State,  and  to  many  a  man  in 
the  districts  the  office  of  school  trustee  was  the  most  im- 
portant office  within  the  gift  of  the  American  people  to 
which  he  might  ever  hope  to  aspire. 

Merits  and  defects  of  the  district  unit.  One  of  the 
chief  merits  of  the  district  system  of  school  administration, 
and  one  for  which  it  has  been  greatly  extolled,  was  that  the 
school  district  meeting  served  as  a  forensic  center  for  the 
new  democratic  life  of  the  time.  The  victory  of  Andrew 
Jackson  was  a  victory  for  democracy  which  was  felt  even  in 
remote  rural  districts.  The  school  district  has  been  and 
still  is  the  smallest  unit  of  local  self-government  in  our 
political  system,  and  the  one  small  unit  to  which  much  power 
is  still  given.  It  corresponds  to  the  parish  in  the  manage- 
ment of  church  affairs,  or  to  the  early  New  England  town 
meeting  under  the  old  regime.  As  a  unit  of  local  govern- 
ment it  once  doubtless  did  much  to  educate  the  people  in 
civic  spirit  and  patriotism,  and  trained  them  in  the  simple 
forms  of  parliamentary  procedure.  There  they  learned  to 
speak  and  to  defend  their  rights  —  real  or  imaginary  —  as 
well  as  to  present  their  grievances  and  pay  off  old  scores. 
At  a  time  when  general  education  at  public  expense  hung  in 


CHARACTER  OF  THE  SCHOOLS  ESTABLISHED    241 

the  balance,  the  district  system  doubtless  did  much  toward 
awakening  a  conception  of  the  need  for  and  the  benefits  of 
popular  education. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  system  awakened  an  exaggerated 
idea  as  to  district  importance,  an  idea  as  to  district  perfec- 
tion which  rendered  it  impervious  to  criticism,  a  deep  jeal- 
ousy of  larger  and  more  prosperous  districts,  frequently  a 
banding  together  to  keep  others  from  enjoying  what  the 
poorer  ones  could  not  enjoy,  and  usually  persistent  and 
bitter  opposition  to  any  attempt  at  reform. 

Even  by  1850  the  tendency  in  the  States  had  become 
marked  to  limit  the  powers  of  the  district  meeting,  and  to 
take  away  powers  from  the  trustees  and  transfer  them  to 
the  county  and  state  superintendents  which  were  then  being 
created,  or  to  determine  the  matter  once  for  all  by  consti- 
tutional requirement  or  uniform  state  law.  In  most  States 
the  district  meeting  was  shorn  of  such  powers  as  the  right 
to  designate  the  teacher,  select  the  textbooks,  or  make  out 
the  course  of  study,  and  the  trustees  were  early  shorn  of 
their  power  to  examine  and  certificate  the  teacher  they 
selected.  The  length  of  term,  the  rate  of  tax  that  must  be 
levied,  and  the  subjects  that  must  be  taught  were  early 
specified  in  the  laws.  In  about  this  form  the  district  system 
has  continued  to  the  present,  though  a  number  of  States 
have  abandoned  it  for  a  better  system  of  school  adminis- 
tration. The  earliest  States  to  do  so  were  Indiana,  in  1852; 
Massachusetts,  in  1882;  New  Hampshire,  in  1885;  Georgia, 
in  1887;  Florida,  in  1889;  Maine  and  Ohio,  in  1892;  Vermont 
and  Rhode  Island,  in  1904;  and  New  Jersey,  in  1894.  Since 
1900  a  number  of  other  States  have  taken  similar  action. 

III.  General  Character  of  the  Early  Schools 
Character  of  the  early  teachers.  Our  schools,  like  our 
clothing  during  this  early  period,  were  largely  of  the  home- 
spun variety.  Not  only  were  the  subjects  of  instruction 
those  of  the  natively  evolving  American  school,  but  our 
teachers  and  school  officers  were  of  the  same  native  type. 


242 


EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 


The  professional  teacher  and  school  officer  had  not  as  yet 
appeared.  The  first  American  state  normal  school  opened 
at  Lexington,  Massachusetts,  in  1839,  but  as  late  as  1860 
there  were  but  eleven  such  state  schools  in  the  entire  United 
States,  and  these  eleven  were  confined  to  eight  Northern 
States.  Teachers'  institutes,  first  definitely  organized  by 
Henry  Barnard  in  Connecticut,  in  1839,  had  been  introduced 


A  l841  s 

I        1860       T 

^^^^^ 

"~P4 y   \  r 

1              */ 

1848      ^ 

\        1846      \J 

Z2              *S4° 
1            1854 

\           1853 

/       1854 

1846 

1845 

A            • 

s. 

State  Normal  School    • 
1845  Etc.  -  Date  of  First  Introduction 

of  the  Teachers'  Institute 

Fig.  48.  Teacher  Training  in  the  United  States  by  1860 

A  few  private  training  schools  also  existed,  though  less  than  half  a  dozen  in  all.  Again 
compare  this  development  with  the  spread  of  New  England  people,  as  shown  in  the  figure 
on  page  73. 

into  but  fifteen  other  States  by  1860,  and  these  all  in  the 
northeastern  quarter  of  the  United  States.  But  few  books 
of  a  professional  nature,  aside  from  the  School  Journals 
which  began  to  appear  in  the  twenties  and  thirties  (p.  260) 
had  as  yet  been  published.  Samuel  R.  Hall's  Lectures  on 
Schoolkeeping,  published  in  1829,  was  the  first  professional 
book  for  teachers  published  in  America,  and  David  Page's 
Theory  and  Practice  of  Teaching,  first  issued  in  1847,  was 
one  of  the  earliest,  as  well  as  one  of  the  most  successful  of 
all  professional  books.     Our  best  teachers  were  graduates 


CHARACTER  OF  THE  SCHOOLS  ESTABLISHED    243 

of  the  academies  and  the  rising  high  schools,  and  the  masters 
in  the  larger  cities  of  the  East  were  nearly  always  well- 
educated  men,  but  the  great  mass  of  the  teachers  had  little 
education  beyond  that  of  the  schools  they  themselves 
taught.  Terms  were  short,  wages  low  and  paid  in  part 
through  "  boarding-around "  arrangements,  and  profes- 
sional standards,  outside  a  few  cities,  were  almost  completely 
absent.  In  place  of  the  written  examination  in  many  sub- 
jects or  the  professional  training  now  quite  generally  de- 
manded for  a  teacher's  certificate,  in  the  earlier  period 
teachers  were  given  a  short  personal  examination  "in  regard 
to  moral  character,  learning,  and  ability  to  teach  school." 
Not  being  satisfied  with  such  requirements,  the  cities  were 
early  permitted  to  conduct  separate  examinations  for  the 
teachers  they  employed.  It  was  customary  in  rural  dis- 
tricts to  hold  both  a  summer  and  a  winter  term,  and  to  con- 
tract separately  for  each.  Women  frequently  taught  in  the 
summer,  but  the  teachers  in  the  winter  were  practically 
always  men. 

The  cities  then,  as  since,  drew  the  best  of  the  teachers, 
both  in  training  and  character.  In  the  rural  districts  the 
teachers  were  men  who  worked  on  the  farms  or  at  day  labor 
in  the  summer,  and  frequently  left  much  to  be  desired.  Con- 
tracts and  rules  of  the  time  not  infrequently  required  that 
the  teacher  conduct  himself  properly  and  "refrain  from  all 
spirituous  liquors  while  engaged  in  this  school,  and  not  to 
enter  the  school  house  when  intoxicated,  nor  to  lose  time 
through  such  intemperance."  On  the  contrary,  many 
schoolmasters  of  the  time  were  excellent  drill  masters  and 
kind  of  heart,  and  well  merited  George  Arnold's  description : 

He  taught  his  scholars  the  rule  of  three, 

Writing,  and  reading,  and  history  too; 
He  took  the  little  ones  up  on  his  knee, 
For  a  kind  old  heart  in  his  breast  had  he, 

And  the  wants  of  the  littlest  child  he  knew. 

The  required  studies  were  reading,  writing,  spelling,  and 
arithmetic  everywhere,  with  geography  and  grammar  gen- 


244  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

erally  added  by  1845.  Composition,  United  States  history, 
and  simple  bookkeeping  were  usually  included  for  the  town 
schools.  These  subjects  the  teacher  obligated  himself  in 
his  contract  to  teach  "to  all  the  youth  of  the  district  that 
may  be  placed  under  his  care,"  and  they  constituted  the 
instruction  of  the  school  and  were  taught  by  methods  quite 
different  from  those  now  in  use.  Oral  instruction,  the 
word  method  in  teaching  reading,  language  lessons,  instruc- 
tions about  realities,  elementary  science,  geography  built 
on  the  child's  environment  instead  of  the  pages  of  a  book, 
arithmetic  by  analysis  instead  of  sums  by  rule,  music,  draw- 
ing, reasoning  instead  of  memorizing,  and  teaching  that 
comes  from  the  full  mind  of  the  teacher  rather  than  from 
the  pages  of  a  book  —  with  all  of  which  we  are  now  so  fa- 
miliar —  were  hardly  known  in  the  forties  in  the  best  of  our 
schools,  or  before  1860  outside  of  the  more  progressive  cities. 
It  was  also  made  the  duty  of  the  teacher  "  to  keep  strict  rules 
and  good  order,"  and  the  ability  to  discipline  the  school  was 
an  important  part  of  the  teacher's  qualifications.  There 
was  little  "soft  pedagogy"  in  the  management  of  eithe? 
town  or  rural  schools  in  the  days  before  the  Civil  War. 

The  schoolhouses  and  their  equipment.  Up  to  the  time 
Henry  Barnard  began  to  write  on  schoolhouse  construction 
(about  1840),  no  one  had  given  any  particular  attention  to 
the  subject.  Schoolhouses  were  "home-made,"  and,  out- 
side of  the  few  large  cities,  were  largely  built  without  plans 
or  specifications.  For  one  of  the  early  schoolhouses  built 
in  Providence,  Rhode  Island,  the  entire  contract  consisted 
of  a  very  rough  pen-and-ink  sketch,  on  a  single  sheet  of 
paper,  showing  windows,  rafters,  steeple,  and  length  and 
breadth,  and  across  this  the  contractor  had  written: 

For  the  confider  one  thoufan  two  hundred  dollars  erect  &  build 
finde  the  matearels  &  paintent  the  fame  and  lay  the  foundations 
build  the  chimney  and  compleated  faid  building  fit  for  youse; 

and  signed  his  name.  Many  schoolhouses  in  the  towns  and 
rural  districts  were  built  in  a  similar  manner  until  well  after 


CHARACTER  OF  THE  SCHOOLS  ESTABLISHED    245 


the  close  of  the  Civil  War.  In  the  rural  districts  "a  weather- 
boarded  box"  or  an  old  log  schoolhouse,  with  two  or  three 
windows  on  each  side,  a  few  wooden  benches,  and  an  un- 
jacketed   stove    in   the 


Jv 


middle  of  the  room, 
answered  all  needs.  In 
the  cities  a  very  ornate 
school  architecture  came 
in  after  the  building  of 
high  schools  began,  but 
few  high-school  build- 
ings erected  before  1860 
contained  any  rooms 
beside  class  recitation 
rooms,  an  office,  and  an  assembly  hall  (see  Fig.  34,  p.  195). 
The  instruction  was  still  almost  entirely  book  instruction, 
and  little  else  than  recitation  rooms  were  needed.  The 
school  furniture  consisted  of  long  home-made  benches  in 
the  rural  schools,  and  double  desks  in  the  cities.     The 


Fig.  49.  One  of  the  "Weather-boarded 
Boxes" 


Fig.  50.  School  Desks  before  1860 

These  represent  the  best  types  of  city  school  furniture  in  general  use  at  the  time. 

Quincy  School,  built  in  Boston  in  1848,  introduced  a  new 
type  of  school  architecture  in  that  the  building  contained  a 
small  classroom  for  each  teacher  — twelve  in  all,  with  seats 
for  fifty-five  pupils  in  each  —  an  assembly  room,  a  coat  and 


246  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STAJES 

cloak  room  off  each  classroom,  and  "a  separate  desk  and 
chair  for  each  pupil,  this  being  the  first  grammar  school- 
house,"  wrote  the  principal  thirty  years  later,  "here  or 
elsewhere,  so  far  as  I  know,  into  which  this  feature  was 
introduced." 

Blackboards  were  not  in  use  until  about  1820,  and  globes 
and  maps  were  not  common  till  later.  The  early  geogra- 
phies contained  almost  no  maps,  and  the  early  histories  few 
illustrations.  Steel  pens  did  not  replace  the  use  of  quills 
until  near  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century. 

Purposes  in  instruction.  The  knowledge  aim  dominated 
all  instruction.  Knowledge  was  the  important  thing,  as  it 
was  rather  firmly  believed  that  knowledge  and  virtue  were 
somewhat  synonymous  terms.  The  fundamental  subjects 
of  the  common-school  course  were  drilled  upon,  and  the 
trustees  or  the  school  committee,  when  they  visited  the 
school,  examined  the  pupils  as  to  their  ability  to  read  and 
spell,  inspected  the  copybooks,  and  quizzed  the  pupils  as  to 
their  knowledge  of  the  rules  of  arithmetic  and  grammar, 
and  the  location  of  towns  and  rivers  and  capes.  Competi- 
tive spelling  and  reading  contests  were  common,  to  write 
a  good  and  ornate  hand  was  a  matter  of  note,  while  the 
solving  of  arithmetical  puzzles,  parsing  and  diagramming  of 
sentences,  and  locating  geographical  points  were  accom- 
plishments which  marked  the  higher  stages  of  a  com- 
mon-school education.  Arithmetic  and  English  grammar 
became  firmly  fixed  as  the  great  subjects  of  the  com- 
mon-school course  of  study,  and  the  momentum  these  two 
subjects  accumulated  in  the  early  days  of  public  education 
is  as  yet  far  from  spent. 

IV.  The  Civil  War  checks  Development 
Education  in  the  Southern  States.  But  little  mention  has 
so  far  been  made  of  the  school  systems  of  the  Southern 
States,  for  the  reason  that  education  there,  as  has  already 
been  stated,  was  much  slower  in  getting  under  way  than  in 
the  Northern  States.     In  most  of  the  Southern  States,  de- 


CHARACTER  OF  THE  SCHOOLS  ESTABLISHED    247 

spite  some  promising  beginnings,  an  educational  system  was 
not  created  until  after  the  close  of  the  Civil  War.  A  brief 
digest  of  the  important  educational  legislation  enacted  in 
the  different  States  before  the  outbreak  of  the  war  will  make 
this  evident. 

1.  The  original  Stales 

Delaware.  State  school  fund  created  in  1796,  but  unused  until 
1817;  then  $1000  a  year  given  to  each  county  to  educate  pauper 
children  in  reading,  writing,  and  arithmetic.  In  1821  aid  extended 
to  Sunday  Schools.  First  permissive  free  school  law  in  1821,  and 
schools  of  Wilmington  begun.  People  unwilling  to  tax  themselves, 
and  by  1833  only  133  school  districts  organized  in  the  State.  In 
1843  an  educational  convention  adopted  a  resolution  opposing 
taxation  for  education,  and  little  more  was  done  until  1861,  the 
date  of  the  first  law  to  really  start  the  schools. 

Maryland.  Many  academies  chartered,  and  lottery  much  used 
before  1817.  School  fund  begun  by  a  bank  tax,  in  1812,  and  first 
property  tax  authorized,  in  1816,  to  provide  charity  schools.  Lot- 
tery to  raise  $50,000  a  year  for  five  years  for  such  schools,  between 
1816  and  1821.  First  general  school  law  in  1825,  providing  for 
State  Superintendent  and  Lancastrian  schools.  Too  advanced, 
never  in  operation,  law  repealed  and  superintendency  abolished 
in  1827,  and  little  more  done.  Virtually  no  school  system  outside 
of  Baltimore  by  1860.  Real  beginning  of  state  school  system 
dates  from  1865. 

Virginia.  Optional  school  law  in  1796,  but  little  done  under  it. 
Literary  Fund  created  in  1810.  Second  school  law  in  1818,  pro- 
vided for  a  charity  school  system,  and  $45,000  a  year  state  aid  for 
such.  By  1843  estimated  that  one  half  the  indigent  children  in 
the  State  were  receiving  sixty  days  schooling  each  year.  Much 
educational  agitation  after  1837.  Third  school  law  in  1846,  pro- 
viding for  school  districts,  taxation,  and  county  school  commis- 
sioners. Good  law,  but  optional,  and  as  only  nine  counties  adopted 
it,  the  charity  school  law  of  1818  virtually  continued.  The  Civil 
War  ended  the  old  system;  real  beginning  of  state  school  system 
dates  from  1870. 

North  Carolina.  This  State  made  a  good  beginning  before  the 
Civil  WTar,  and  an  excellent  record  during  the  war.  State  univer- 
sity opened  in  1795.    Many  academies  chartered,  and  lottery  much 


248  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

used  to  aid  them.  School  law  reported  in  1817,  but  failed  of  pas- 
sage.^ Charity-school  law  reported  in  1824,  but  also  failed.  Lan- 
castrian system  proposed  in  1832,  and  also  failed.  Elementary 
school  system  created  in  1839,  and  state  superintendency  in  1852. 
Schools  well  under  way  after  1852.  From  1853  to  1865  history  of 
school  system  almost  a  biography  of  the  Scotch-Irish  Superin- 
tendent, Calvin  H.  Wiley.  Temptation  to  use  the  $2,000,000 
school  fund  for  war  needs  resisted,  and  schools  kept  open  during 
the  war.  System  abolished  by  reconstruction  government  in  1865. 
Present  system  dates  from  1868.  Wiley,  in  his  last  Report,  well  said: 

To  the  lasting  credit  of  North  Carolina,  her  public  schools  survived  the 
terrible  shock  of  the  cruel  war.  .  .  .  The  common  schools  lived  and  dis- 
charged their  useful  mission  through  all  the  gloom  and  trials  of  the  conflict, 
and  when  the  last  gun  was  fired,  and  veteran  armies  once  hostile  were 
meeting  and  embracing  in  peace  upon  our  soil,  the  doors  were  still  kept 
open,  and  they  numbered  their  pupils  by  scores  of  thousands. 

South  Carolina.  First  law,  in  1811,  created  virtually  a  charity 
school  for  Charleston.  Report  in  1836  recommended  charity 
schools  for  the  State,  but  no  action.  In  1854  Charleston  asked  to 
be  permitted  to  provide  free  schools;  granted  in  1856.  Between 
1790  and  1856  state  constitution  amended  seven  times,  without 
including  any  mention  of  education.  Present  state  school  system 
dates  from  1868. 

Georgia.  The  first  state  university  chartered  here  in  1784,  and 
opened  in  1800.  In  1817  a  fund  created  for  free  schools,  and  in 
1822  income  designated  for  tuition  of  poor  children.  By  1820 
thirty-one  academies  chartered,  and  academy  fund  permitted  to 
be  used  to  aid  charity  schools.  Free  School  Societies  begun  in 
Savannah  in  1818,  and  Augusta  in  1821,  to  provide  charity  schools. 
In  1837  the  academy  fund  turned  over  to  the  common-school 
fund,  and  a  good  free-school  system  established,  but  in  1840  law 
repealed  and  charity-school  system  reestablished.  In  1858  word 
"poor"  eliminated  from  school  law,  but  by  1860  only  one  county 
had  established  a  free-school  system.  Present  state  school  system 
dates  from  the  Law  of  1870. 

2.  New  States,  in  order  of  admission 

Kentucky.  Admitted  in  1792.  No  general  interest  in  education 
before  1820.  In  1821  first  provision  for  aid  to  common  schools  and 
a  fund  created,  but  proved  abortive,  and  legislature  used  the  fund. 


CHARACTER  OF  THE  SCHOOLS  ESTABLISHED    249 

In  1830  first  general  law  for  schools,  but  proved  a  dead  letter,  due 
to  lack  of  interest  in  education.  In  1837  real  interest  began,  and 
law  provided  for  district  organization,  State  Board  of  Education, 
and  State  Superintendent  of  Schools.  At  that  time  estimated  that 
one  half  of  the  children  of  the  State  had  never  been  to  school,  and 
one  third  of  the  adult  population  illiterate.  Louisville  schools 
date  from  1819,  were  made  free  during  1829-30,  and  permanently 
after  1840.  In  1848  the  debt  of  the  State  to  the  school  fund  was 
acknowledged  (see  p.  138),  in  1849  the  first  state  school  tax  was 
levied,  and  the  new  constitution  of  1850  made  the  first  mention  of 
education.  By  1853  a  school  existed  in  each  county  for  the  first 
time.  The  Civil  War  interrupted  the  old  system;  present  state 
system  dates  from  1870. 

Tennessee.  Admitted  in  1796.  In  1817  declared  that  "colleges 
and  academies  should  form  a  complete  system  of  education." 
First  general  school  law,  in  1830,  provided  for  districts,  trustees, 
and  county  commissioners,  but  no  tax  for  maintenance.  It  also 
provided  that  no  distinctions  be  made  between  rich  and  poor  in 
schools.  State  school  fund  safeguarded  in  new  constitution  of 
1834.  In  1835  Secretary  of  State  made  ex-ojficio  State  Superin- 
tendent of  Schools.  Schools  increased,  but  system  lacked  vigor 
before  1860.  From  1860  to  1867  schools  closed.  Real  beginnings 
of  present  state  school  system  made  by  the  Law  of  1870. 

Louisiana.  Admitted  in  1812.  A  University  of  Louisiana  cre- 
ated in  1805,  and  a  system  of  free  schools  in  1806,  after  the  French 
model,  but  not  put  into  effect.  No  mention  of  education  in  con- 
stitution of  1812,  and  nothing  done  toward  a  state  system  of  free 
schools  until  new  constitution  of  1845.  Law  of  1847  began  sys- 
tem, provided  for  state  superintendent,  and  taxation.  By  1851 
estimated  that  one  half  the  children  of  the  State  were  attending 
public  schools.  The  Civil  War  put  an  end  to  this  system.  Though 
the  military  government  established  schools  in  1864,  the  present 
school  system  dates  from  1877,  when  the  withdrawal  of  Northern 
nrfe  left  the  people  free  to  inaugurate  one  of  their  own  choice. 

Mississippi.  Admitted  in  1817.  Schools  permitted  in  1818. 
Literary  Fund  created  in  1821,  to  be  used  in  each  county  for  edu- 
cation of  selected  poor  in  reading,  writing,  and  arithmetic.  In 
1833  the  fund  was  turned  over  to  the  counties,  and  the  state  system 
abandoned.  Much  agitation  for  schools  from  1844,  and  new  law 
of  1846  permitted  schools,  but  no  tax  for  without  consent,  each 
^ear,  of  majority  of  heads  of  families.     This  nullified  the  law. 


250         EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

Some  special  legislation  to  permit  cities  to  organize  schools. 
Present  state  system  dates  from  1868. 

Alabama.  Admitted  in  1819.  Constitutional  mandate  ineffec- 
tive. School  law  for  Mobile  in  1826,  and  first  general  law  for  State 
in  1854.  Latter  provided  for  a  state  superintendent,  county  com- 
missioners, a  city  superintendent  for  Mobile,  and  tuition  schools, 
with  aid  from  public  funds  to  private  teachers.  The  Civil  War 
ended  this  system;  real  state  system  dates  from  1875,  when  the 
people  became  free  to  adopt  one  in  harmony  with  local  wishes. 

Missouri.  Admitted  in  1821.  First  public  school  in  State 
organized  at  St.  Louis,  in  1838.  First  permissive  law  in  1839, 
but  too  advanced  in  nature,  and  little  done  under  it.  State  univer- 
sity opened  in  1844.  Secretary  of  State  made  ex-ojjicio  state  school 
officer  in  1841,  and  state  superintendency  created  in  1853.  First 
high  school  in  St.  Louis  in  1853.  The  Civil  War  interrupted  the 
schools  which  had  been  created;  present  state  school  system  dates 
from  1865. 

Arkansas.  Admitted  in  1836.  First  general  school  law  in  1843, 
providing  for  sale  of  16th  section  lands,  distribution  of  funds,  and 
examination  of  teachers.  In  1853  Secretary  of  State  made  ex- 
officio  Superintendent  of  Schools.  By  1854  estimated  that  25  per 
cent  of  children  of  school  age  in  some  form  of  school.  The  Civil 
War  ended  this  system;  present  state  system  dates  from  1867. 

Florida.  Admitted  in  1845.  In  1849  schools  authorized,  and 
in  1850  county  tax  for  schools  permitted.  By  1860  a  sentiment 
favorable  to  education  had  developed,  but  little  had  been  accom- 
plished up  to  then.  Real  beginning  of  state  school  system  dates 
from  1869,  and  real  progress  from  about  1880. 

Texas.  The  Mexican  Government  had  organized  Lancastrian 
tuition  schools  in  the  State  in  1829.  First  constitution,  in  1836, 
provided  for  state  superintendent  of  schools.  In  1840  each  county 
given  land  endowments  for  schools,  thus  creating  the  county 
school  funds.  Entered  the  American  Union,  in  1845,  and  consti- 
tution provided  for  state  schools.  First  law  providing  for  their 
establishment  in  1854,  and  first  school  established  that  year  at 
San  Antonio.  The  Civil  War  checked  this  development,  and  the 
present  system  dates  from  1866. 

The  problem  faced  by  the  South.  It  will  be  seen  from 
the  above  digest  that,  although  the  "common-school  awak- 
ening" which  took   place  in  the  Northern  States  after 


CHARACTER  OF  THE  SCHOOLS  ESTABLISHED    $51 

Horace  Mann  began  his  work  in  Massachusetts  (1837)  was 
felt  in  some  of  the  Southern  States  as  well,  and  although 
some  very  commendable  beginnings  had  been  made  in  a 
few  of  these  States  before  1860,  the  establishment  of  state 
educational  systems  in  the  South  was  in  reality  the  work  of 
the  period  following  the  close  of  the  Civil  War.  The  com- 
ing of  this  conflict,  evident  for  a  decade  before  the  storm 
broke,  tended  to  postpone  further  educational  development. 
Following  the  close  of  the  war  the  different  Southern 
States  started  the  work  of  building  up  state  free  public 
school  systems  with  an  energy  which  their  depleted  resources 
and  lost  school  funds  hardly  warranted.  This  they  did 
because  they  realized  that  the  education  of  all  classes  of  their 
people  was  the  surest  means  for  promoting  the  prosperity 
of  the  South.  Robert  E.  Lee  well  expressed  the  best 
Southern  feeling  when  he  wrote,  in  1866,  to  his  friend 
Leyburn : 

So  greatly  have  those  interests  [educational]  been  disturbed  at 
the  South,  and  so  much  does  its  future  condition  depend  upon  the 
rising  generation,  that  I  consider  the  proper  education  of  its  youth 
one  of  the  most  important  objects  now  to  be  attained,  and  one 
from  which  the  greatest  benefits  may  be  expected.  Nothing  will 
compensate  us  for  the  depression  of  the  standard  of  our  moral  and 
intellectual  culture,  and  each  State  should  take  the  most  energetic 
measures  to  revive  the  schools  and  colleges,  and,  if  possible,  to 
increase  the  facilities  for  instruction  and  to  elevate  the  standard  of 
learning. 

It  was  a  tremendous  undertaking,  and  called  for  much 
energy  and  pluck  from  a  people  whose  property  had  been 
largely  swept  away  and  whose  school  funds  had  been  largely 
lost.  In  addition,  four  millions  of  uneducated  new  citizens 
were  added  to  the  educational  burden  of  the  South  as  a 
result  of  the  Civil  War.  The  National  Congress  was  re- 
peatedly appealed  to  (1881-89)  for  assistance,  and  although 
a  bill  intended  to  aid  the  South  passed  the  Senate  three 
times,  it  each  time  failed  of  passage  in  the  House.  As  a 
result  the  aid  which  would  have  been  so  useful  and  which 


252  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

ought  to  have  been  extended  was  denied.  In  consequence 
it  required  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century  for  the  Southern 
States  to  get  their  school  systems  satisfactorily  under  way, 
and  to  take  their  proper  educational  position  among  the 
States  of  the  Nation. 

Development  checked  and  changed  in  direction.  The 
coming  of  the  Civil  War  largely  checked  development  at 
the  North  as  well.  The  war  itself  absorbed  the  energies  of 
our  people,  and  it  was  a  decade  and  a  half  after  its  close 
before  any  marked  signs  of  expansion  and  development 
were  evident,  even  in  the  North.  The  second  quarter  of 
the  nineteenth  century  had  been  essentially  a  period  of  the 
establishment  of  the  American  free  public  school  in  the 
minds  of  the  people  and  in  the  laws  of  the  States.  By  1850 
the  main  lines  for  future  development  had  been  laid  down, 
and  the  main  battles  had  been  won.  The  American  people 
had  definitely  decided  that  they  intended  to  establish  and 
maintain  a  series  of  state  systems  of  free,  publicly  controlled, 
tax-supported,  non-sectarian  common  schools,  and  that 
these  common-school  systems  should  provide  whatever 
educational  advantages  the  needs  of  the  States  might  seem 
to  demand.  Many  minor  points  still  remained  to  be  de- 
cided, and  many  local  struggles  still  remained  to  be  fought 
out,  but  the  main  lines  of  future  development  had  been 
firmly  established. 

After  1850  a  number  of  additions  to  and  extensions  of  the 
public-education  idea  began  to  be  noted  —  evidences  of  a 
desire  to  extend  the  school  systems  and  to  make  of  them 
more  useful  instruments  for  state  and  national  service. 
Evening  schools,  probably  first  begun  in  New  York  City, 
about  1833,  began  to  be  added  by  a  number  of  cities  to  their 
school  systems,  and  the  first  evening  high  school  was  opened 
in  Cincinnati,  in  1856.  Music  had  been  introduced  into  the 
schools  of  Boston  in  1837,  and  Providence  (see  p.  227)  before 
1848,  and  was  beginning  to  find  favor  here  and  there.  Draw- 
ing first  became  an  optional  public  school  subject  in  Massa- 
chusetts in  1858,  and  was  first  taught  regularly  in  Boston 


CHARACTER  OF  THE  SCHO0LS  ESTABLISHED    253 

in  1860.  In  1842  Massachusetts  enacted  the  first  child- 
labor  law,  and  in  1852  the  first  compulsory  school  attend- 
ance law.  School  supervision  was  being  extended,  addi- 
tional high  schools  were  being  created,  the  school  term  was 
being  lengthened,  increasing  sums  were  being  spent  on  the 
schools,  and  educational  opportunity  was  being  broadened. 
Taking  into  account  all  public  and  private  schooling  of 
whatever  grade,  the  United  States  Bureau  of  Education 
estimated  that  each  individual  in  our  population  received, 
during  his  lifetime,  at  the  dates  given,  an  average  of  the 
number  of  days  and  months  (of  20  school  days  each)  of 
schooling  shown  in  the  adjoining  table.  We  had  also,  by 
1860,  made  marked  progress 
in  opening  up  education  of 
all  grades  to  girls  as  well  as 
boys,  though  in  many  places 
the  girls  were  still  taught 
in  separate  classrooms  or 
schools. 

The  coming  of  the  Civil 
War  for  a  time  checked  al- 
most all  material  develop- 
ment at  the  North,  and  almost  completely  closed  the  schools 
in  the  South.  Up  to  about  1880  at  the  North,  and  1890  to 
1895  at  the  South,  further  development  and  expansion  came 
but  slowly;  expenses  were  kept  down,  school  buildings  were 
kept  simple  and  along  established  lines,  few  new  features 
were  added  to  the  curriculum,  and  few  new  school  super- 
visory officers  were  employed.  Then  came  the  wonderful 
development  in  public  education  which  has  characterized 
the  past  twenty-five  to  thirty  years. 

In  the  meantime  our  educational  system  was  being  devel- 
oped in  another  way.  Up  to  1835  certainly,  and  in  most 
places  for  from  one  to  two  decades  longer,  all  development 
was  a  purely  native  development.  After  about  1835  to 
1840  we  began  to  be  touched  by  new  influences  from  the 
outside,  through  new  citizens  and  returning  travelers  who 


Year 

Total  number  of 

days 

months 

1800 

82 

4m.  2d. 

1840 

208 

10  m.  8d. 

1850 

450 

22  m.  10  d. 

1860 

434 

21  m.  14  d. 

1870 

582 

29m.  2d. 

1880 

690 

34  m.  10  d. 

1890 

770 

38  m.  10  d. 

1900 

934 

41  m.  14  d. 

1910 

1080 

54  m.  Od. 

1916 

1192 

59  m.  12  d. 

254  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

described  for  us  the  work  of  Pestalozzi  and  his  disciples  in 
Switzerland  and  the  Pestalozzian  organization  of  instruction 
in  Holland  and  the  German  States.  After  1860  we  began 
seriously  to  introduce  among  our  teachers  a  new  method  of 
instruction,  based  on  the  psychological  foundations  worked 
out  by  Pestalozzi  and  his  successors.  The  period  from  about 
1850  or  1860  to  about  1880  or  1890  was  the  period  of  the  in- 
troduction and  organization  of  teaching  method,  when  we 
made  up  in  internal  organization  what  we  lacked  in  external 
development,  and  to  this  interesting  addition  to  our,  educa- 
tional ideas  and  practices  we  next  turn. 

QUESTIONS  FOR  DISCUSSION 

1.  Explain  why  declamation  should  have  been  so  natural  a  subject  to 
add  to  the  school  of  the  3-Rs. 

2.  Show  why  English  grammar,  once  introduced,  would  naturally  be- 
come a  popular  subject  of  study. 

8.  Explain  how  the  publication  of  the  new  textbooks  on  the  new  subjects 
"opened  up  entirely  new  possibilities  in  instruction." 

4.  Show  how  the  spirit  with  which  the  introduction  of  new  subjects  at 
Providence  was  met,  as  described  by  Howland,  was  quite  modern  in 
character. 

5.  Was  the  Boston  school  system  of  1823  a  thoroughly  democratic  one, 
or  not?    Why? 

6.  Show  how  the  absence  of  any  professional  supervision  naturally 
tended  to  the  independence  of  teachers  and  schools  in  the  early  period 
of  our  history. 

7.  Why  should  the  new  high  schools  have  been  fitted  on  to  the  grammar- 
school  course,  instead  of  beginning  as  the  Latin  grammar  schools  did 
at  an  earlier  period? 

8.  What  does  the  list  of  college  entrance  subjects  given  indicate  as  to 
the  change  in  character  of  the  colleges? 

9.  Why  was  it  a  natural  condition  to  find  the  district  system  in  the  cities 
during  their  early  history? 

10.  Show  how  city  boards  of  education  were  a  natural  evolution  out  oi 
city-council  control  of  the  early  schools,  and  then  how  a  city  super- 
intendent of  schools  came  as  a  further  natural  evolution. 

11.  About  what  percentage  of  the  school  children  of  Buffalo  could  have 
been  cared  for  in  the  seven  public  schools  of  1837? 

12.  Picture  the  results  in  Chicago  or  Detroit  or  Buffalo  to-day  if  the 
schools  of  the  city  were  still  managed  under  the  district  system. 

13.  Explain,  historically,  why  so  many  cities  in  the  older  States  have 


CHARACTER  OF  THE  SCHOOLS  ESTABLISHED    255 

special  city  boards  of  examination  for  teachers'  credentials,  instead 
of  accepting  the  certificates  issued  by  county  or  state  authorities. 

14.  Show  how  natural  it  was  that  the  knowledge  aim  should  have  domi- 
nated instruction  during  the  1830  to  1860  period. 

15.  Do  you  agree  that  the  North  should  have  aided  the  South  in  develop- 
ing its  schools  after  the  close  of  the  Civil  War?    Why? 

16.  Show  how  natural  it  was  that  the  Civil  War  should  have  checked 
expansion  and  material  development,  and  forced  the  schools  to  a  de- 
velopment within. 

TOPICS  FOR  INVESTIGATION  AND  REPORT 

1.  Early  school  buildings;  plans  and  types.    (Barnard.) 

2.  Early  city  courses  of  study.    (Barnard.) 

8.  Subjects  taught  in  the  early  high  schools.    (Barnard.) 

4.  Early  standards  for  certificating  teachers.    (Barnard.) 

5.  History  and  character  of  the  teachers'  institutes.    (Barnard.) 

6.  Educational  opportunities  for  girls  before  1850. 

7.  The  Springfield  Tests.    (Riley.) 

8.  The  Springfield  and  Norwich  Tests  compared.    (Riley;  Tirrell.) 

9.  Give  the  Springfield  Tests  to  an  equivalent  school  class  to-day  and 
compare  results. 

10.  Character  of  the  early  instruction  in  reading,  arithmetic,  geography, 
or  other  subject  before  1850. 


SELECTED  REFERENCES 

Barnard,  Henry,  Editor.     The  American  Journal  of  Education.     31  vols. 

Consult  A  nalytical  Index  to ;  1 28  pp.    Published  by  United  States  Bureau 

of  Education,  Washington,  1892. 
l'itzpatrick,  E.  A.     The  Educational  Views  and  Influences  of  De  Witt  Clin' 

ton.     157  pp.     Teachers  College  Contributions  to  Education,  No.  44, 

New  York,  1911. 

Describes  the  schools  of  1830. 

Fitzpa trick,  Frank  A.     "The  Development  of  the  Course  of  Study";  in 
Educational  Review,  vol.  49,  pp.  1-19.     (Jan.,  1915.) 
Takes  Boston  as  a  type  and  treats  the  subject  historically. 

Hedgepeth,  V.  W.  B.    "Spelling  and  Arithmetic  in  1846  and  Today";  in 
School  Review,  vol.  14,  pp.  352-56.     (May,  1906.) 

The  Springfield  test  at  Goshen,  Indiana.     One  of  the  many  comparative  studies. 
♦Johnson,  Clifton.     Old-Time  Schools  and  School  Booh.     380  pp.     The 
Macmillan  Co.,  New  York,  1904. 

Chsptrr  IV  Hc*rHbcs  the  H  strict  *chnn!i  of  the  first  half  of  the  nineteenth  century, 
and  succeeding  chapters  the  textbooks  used.    A  valuable  book. 


256  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

Martin,  G.  H.    "Boston  Schools  100  Years  Ago";  in  New  England  Maga- 
zine, vol.  26,  pp.  628-42.     (July,  1902.) 
A  very  general  article. 

McManis,  John  T.    "History  in  the  Elementary  Schools,  1825-1850";  in 

Educational  Bimonthly,  vol.  6,  pp.  322-32.     (April,  1912.) 
Historical. 
*Monroe,  W.  S.     Development  of  Arithmetic  as  a  School  Subject.     170  pp. 

Bulletin   No.  10,  United  States  Bureau  of  Education,  Washington, 

1917. 

An  excellent  collection  of  illustrative  material  on  early  arithmetic  teaching. 
*Murray,  David.   History  of  Education  in  New  Jersey.  344  pp.    Circular  of 

Information  No.  1,  United  States  Bureau  of  Education,  Washington, 

1899. 

Chapter  VIII  very  good  on  the  character  of  the  schools  during  the  colonial  period  and 
up  to  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century. 

Nelson,  A.  H.  "The  Little  Red  Schoolhouse";  in  Educational  Review, 
vol.  23,  pp.  304-17.  (April,  1902.) 

Description  of  a  rural  school  taught  in  Maine  in  the  winter  of  1858-59,  which  was 
characteristic  of  many  rural  school  positions  before  1870. 

*Providence,  Rhode  Island.  Centennial  Report  of  the  School  Committee, 
1899-1900.    Providence,  1901. 

Contains  many  valuable  historical  documents. 

*Reeder,  Rudolph  R.  The  Historical  Development  of  School  Readers  and 
Methods  of  Teaching  Reading.  Columbia  University  Contributions  to 
Philosophy,  Psychology,  and  Education,  vol.  vni,  No.  2.  The  Macmillan 
Co.,  New  York,  1900. 

*Riley,  J.  L.  The  Springfield  Tests,  18^6-1906.  51  pp.  Holden  Patent 
Book  Cover  Co.,  Springfield,  Mass.,  1908. 

A  reprint  of  the  results  of  the  two  examinations,  showing  the  comparative  results  of 
the  pupils  in  spelling,  arithmetic,  writing,  and  geography. 

Tirrell,  Henry  A.  "  The  Norwich  Tests,  1862-1909";  in  School  Review, 
vol.  18,  pp.  326-32.     (May,  1910.) 

A  comparative  study,  similar  to  the  one  at  Springfield,  and  equally  conclusive  as  to 
arithmetic,  geography,  history,  and  grammar. 


CHAPTER  IX 

NEW  IDEAS  FROM  ABROAD 

I.  English  Origins  and  Early  Independence 
Early  influences  largely  English.  As  will  have  been  seen 
from  a  study  of  the  earlier  chapters,  the  chief  source  from 
which  our  early  educational  ideas  came  was  England. 
Throughout  all  the  colonial  period,  and  well  into  our  national 
period  also,  we  were  English  in  our  history,  traditions,  and 
development.  Though  the  Dutch  and  Swedish  parochial 
schools  were  introduced  into  New  Amsterdam,  though  many 
French  Huguenots  settled  along  the  Carolina  coast,  and 
though  the  German  parochial  school  was  firmly  planted  in 
Pennsylvania,  these  really  influenced  American  development 
but  little.  The  Dutch,  Swedish,  and  French  were  rapidly 
absorbed  and  largely  lost  their  identity  after  the  English  oc- 
cupation, while  the  Germans  became  isolated  and  influenced 
development  but  little  outside  of  eastern  Pennsylvania. 
The  great  source  of  all  our  early  educational  traditions, 
types  of  schools,  textbooks,  and  educational  attitudes  was 
England,  and  education  was  established  and  conducted 
here  much  after  the  fashion  of  the  practices  in  the  mother 
country.  In  New  England  it  was  the  English  Puritan  with 
his  Calvinistic  viewpoint,  and  to  the  southward  it  was  the 
Anglican  churchman  interpreting  the  Englishman's  "  no-bus- 
iness-of-the-State  "  attitude  as  to  education. 

The  dame  school,  the  tutor  in  the  home,  private  and  pa- 
rochial pay  schools,  apprenticeship  training,  the  pauper- 
school  idea,  the  Latin  grammar  school,  and  the  college  — 
all  were  typical  English  institutions  brought  over  by  the 
early  colonists  and  established  here.  For  a  century  and  a 
half  the  textbooks,  and  many  of  the  teachers,  were  also  im- 
ported from  England.     After  the  coming  of  nationality, 


258  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

the  creation  of  distinctively  American  textbooks,  and  the 
evolution  of  more  American-type  schools,  we  still  continued 
to  draw  our  new  educational  ideas  and  creations  from  the 
old  mother  land.  The  Sunday  School,  the  Charity  School, 
the  Church  Society  idea,  the  Lancastrian  Monitorial  Schools, 
and  the  Infant-School  idea  all  came  directly  from  England 
and  were  fitted  into  and  onto  the  slowly  evolving  native 
American  school.  Even  the  Academy  idea  goes  back  in  part 
to  the  Puritan  academies  of  England. 

Early  French  influences.  After  the  French  had  extended 
aid  to  us  in  the  War  for  Independence  there  was  a  tendency, 
for  a  time,  to  imitate  French  examples.  The  University  of 
the  State  of  New  York,  a  governing  body  controlling  all 
higher  educational  activities  in  the  State,  established  in  1784 
and  organized  in  its  permanent  form  in  1787,  shows  unmis- 
takably the  influence  of  the  chief  educational  ideas  of  the 
French  revolutionists.  Jefferson  was  a  great  propagandist 
for  French  ideas,  and  tried,  unsuccessfully,  to  secure  the 
establishment  of  a  complete  system  of  public  education  for 
Virginia  which  would  have  embraced  the  best  of  French 
revolutionary  conceptions.  His  proposed  system  compre- 
hended the  establishment  of  free  elementary  schools  in 
every  "  hundred  "  (township),  a  number  of  secondary  schools 
scattered  throughout  the  State,  and  a  state  college  (William 
and  Mary)  as  the  culmination  of  the  State's  educational 
system.  Had  he  succeeded,  a  free  education  through  col- 
lege would  have  been  provided  for  every  worthy  boy  in 
Virginia,  but  his  scheme  was  too  far  in  advance  of  Amer- 
ican educational  ideas  at  the  time  to  be  accepted.  He 
later  (1819)  secured  the  establishment  of  the  University 
of  Virginia,  which  to-day  stands  as  a  monument  to  his 
memory. 

The  College  of  New  Orleans,  created  in  1805  with  provi- 
sion for  academies  for  the  counties,  and  the  elementary 
school  system  organized  for  the  State  in  1806,  were  clearly 
modeled  after  Napoleon's  law  of  1802,  organizing  instruc- 
tion throughout  France.     Only  the  college  was  ever  put 


NEW  IDEAS  FROM  ABROAD  259 

into  operation.  The  early  constitutional  provisions  regard- 
ing education  in  Indiana,  providing  for  a  system  of  free 
education  "  ascending  in  regular  gradation  from  township 
schools  to  State  University"  (p.  75),  probably  owed  their 
formulation  to  the  influence  in  the  constitutional  conven- 
tion of  the  French  refugees  then  living  in  Vincennes.  The 
founding  of  the  University  of  Michigan,  in  1817,  with  the 
absurd  name  of  Catholepistemiad,  and  its  whimsical  organi- 
zation, embodied  the  same  French  idea  of  a  state  organi- 
zation of  education  extending  from  the  elementary  school 
to  the  university.  We  have  comparatively  little,  though, 
that  can  be  traced  back  to  French  sources,  partly  because 
we  were  so  soon  estranged  from  France  by  the  unfriendly 
actions  of  Napoleon,  and  partly  because  France  had,  be- 
fore the  estrangement,  done  so  little  in  education  that  we 
could  imitate. 

Our  early  isolation  and  independence.  Up  to  the  close 
of  the  first  third  of  the  nineteenth  century  we  remained  iso- 
lated and  followed  purely  native  lines  of  development,  modi- 
fied, as  we  have  seen,  by  new  ideas  brought  over  from  Eng- 
land and  a  few  ideas  as  to  organization  from  France.  We 
were  a  young  and  a  very  independent  nation,  traveling  but 
little,  reading  but  little,  and  depending  almost  entirely 
upon  our  own  ideas  and  resources.  Schools  were  being 
evolved  along  purely  native  lines,  and  adapted  to  the  needs 
of  a  new  nation  on  a  new  continent  which  it  was  busily  en- 
gaged in  reducing  to  civilization. 

Our  teachers  and  schoolmasters  were  of  the  same  native 
homespun  variety,  as  were  our  early  leaders  as  well.  They 
were  all  alike  innocent  of  such  a  thing  as  normal  training, 
had  read  no  professional  literature,  had  attended  few  if  any 
teachers*  institutes,  and  knew  little  as  to  what  even  their 
neighbors,  much  less  what  peoples  in  other  states  and  lands, 
were  doing  in  the  matter  of  organizing  and  directing  schools. 
New  ideas  were  spread  by  teachers  moving  about  rather 
than  by  other  means.  As  an  evidence  of  this,  it  was  almost 
twenty  years  after  Warren  Colburn's  famous  Intellectual 


260  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

Arithmetic  was  published  in  Boston  (1821)  before  it  began 
to  be  used  in  New  Jersey,  "when  those  who  had  studied  it 
in  New  England,"  according  to  Murray,  "became  teachers 
there."  Yet  this  was  the  great  book  of  its  day,  and  shaped 
all  subsequent  teaching  of  the  subject. 

Educational  journalism  begins.  It  was  not  until  the 
twenties  that  our  educational  literature  began,  and  not 
until  the  decade  between  1835  and  1845  that  we  really  be- 
gan to  learn,  for  the  first  time,  of  what  had  been  and  was 
being  done  on  the  continent  of  Europe  in  the  matter  of 
organizing  instruction.  The  earliest  educational  journals 
published  in  the  United  States  were: 

1.  The  Academician,  New  York,  1818-20.  Twenty-five  num- 
bers, edited  by  Albert  and  John  Picket. 

2.  The  American  Journal  of  Education,  Boston,  1826-31.  Five 
volumes,  edited  by  William  Russell. 

3.  The  American  Annals  of  Education,  Boston,  1831-39.  Nine 
volumes.  A  continuation  of  no.  2.  Edited  by  Wm.  C. 
Woodbridge. 

4.  The  Common  School  Assistant,  Albany,  1836-40.  Five  vol- 
umes, edited  by  J.  Orville  Taylor. 

5.  The  Common  School  Journal,  Boston,  1839-48.  Ten  volumes, 
edited  by  Horace  Mann. 

6.  The  Connecticut  Common  School  Journal,  Hartford,  1838-42. 
Four  volumes,  edited  by  Henry  Barnard. 

7.  The  Rhode  Island  School  Journal,  Providence,  1845-48. 
Three  volumes,  edited  by  Henry  Barnard. 

8.  Barnard's  American  Journal  of  Education,  Hartford,  1855-81. 
Thirty-one  volumes,  edited  by  Henry  Barnard.  A  monu- 
mental work. 

The  circulation  of  these  various  journals  was  not  large 
or  extended,  and  for  a  time  was  confined  almost  altogether 
to  New  England,  but  they  gradually  reached  the  leaders  of 
the  time,  and  slowly  but  positively  influenced  public  opinion. 
Their  great  service  was  that  of  spreading  information  as  to 
what  was  being  done,  and  in  extending  the  work  of  propa- 
ganda for  the  maintenance  of  schools.  With  the  beginnings 
of  Barnard's  American  Journal  of  Education,  in  1855,  an 


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NEW  IDEAS  FROM  ABROAD  261 

educational  journal  was  brought  out  which  interpreted  for 
American  educators  the  best  results  of  educational  practice 
in  all  lands  and  times,  and  greatly  extended  the  vision  and 
enlarged  the  point  of  view  of  the  American  schoolman. 

II.  Work  and  Influence  of  Pestalozzi 
The  inspiration  of  Pestalozzi.  One  of  the  greatest  books 
of  the  eighteenth  century,  the  £mile  of  Jean-Jacques  Rous- 
seau, a  French  Swiss  by  birth  then  living  in  Paris,  appeared 
in  1762.  In  this  Rousseau  vigorously  attacked  the  formal- 
ism of  the  age  in  religion,  manners,  and  education.  The 
book  described  the  education  of  the  boy,  Emile,  by  a  new 
plan,  that  of  rejecting  the  formal  teaching  of  the  schools  and 
permitting  him  to  grow  up  and  be  educated  according  to  na- 
ture. The  volume  was  extensively  read,  and  made  a  deep 
impression  throughout  all  Europe,  but  was  particularly  in- 
fluential among  the  thinkers  of  Switzerland.  Gathering 
up  the  current  idea  of  his  age  that  the  "state  of  nature"  was 
the  ideal  one,  and  the  one  in  which  men  had  been  intended 
to  live;  that  the  organization  of  society  had  created  inequali- 
ties which  prevented  man  from  realizing  his  real  self;  and 
that  human  duty  called  for  a  return  to  the  "state  of  na- 
ture," whatever  that  might  be;  Rousseau  stated  them  in 
terms  of  the  education  of  the  boy,  fimile.  Despite  its  many 
exaggerations,  much  faulty  reasoning,  and  many  imperfec- 
tions, the  book  had  a  tremendous  influence  on  Europe  in 
laying  bare  the  defects  and  abuses  of  the  formal  and  eccle- 
siastical education  of  the  time.  Though  Rousseau's  enthu- 
siasm took  the  form  of  theory  run  mad,  and  the  educational 
plan  he  proposed  was  largely  impossible,  he  nevertheless 
popularized  education.  He  also  contributed  much  to  chang- 
ing the  point  of  view  in  instruction  from  subject-matter  to 
the  child  to  be  taught,  and  the  nature  of  instruction  from 
formal  religious  doctrine,  preparatory  for  life  hereafter,  to 
the  study  of  the  life  and  universe  amid  which  man  lives 
here.  The  iconoclastic  nature  of  Rousseau's  volume  may 
be  inferred  from  its  opening  sentence,  where  he  says : "  Every- 


262  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

thing  is  good  as  it  comes  from  the  hand  of  the  author  of 
nature;  everything  degenerates  in  the  hands  of  man." 

Among  those  most  deeply  influenced  by  Rousseau's  book 
was  a  young  German  Swiss  by  the  name  of  Johann  Hein- 
rich  Pestalozzi,  who  was  born  and  brought  up  in  Zurich. 
Inspired  by  Rousseau's  writings,  he  spent  the  early  part  of 
his  life  trying  to  render  service  to  the  poor,  and  the  latter 
part  in  working  out  for  himself  a  theory  and  method  of  in- 
struction based  on  the  natural  development  of  the  child. 
Trying  to  educate  his  own  child  according  to  Rousseau's 
plan,  he  not  only  discovered  its  impracticability  but  also  that 
the  only  way  to  improve  on  it  was  to  study  the  children 
themselves.  Accordingly  he  opened  a  school  and  home 
on  his  farm  at  Neuhof,  in  1774.  Here  he  took  in  fifty  aban- 
doned children,  to  whom  he  taught  reading,  writing,  and 
arithmetic,  gave  them  moral  discourses,  and  trained  them 
in  gardening,  farming,  and  cheese-making.  It  was  an  at- 
tempt to  regenerate  beggars  by  means  of  education,  which 
Pestalozzi  firmly  believed  could  be  done.  At  the  end  of  two 
years  he  had  spent  all  the  money  he  and  his  wife  possessed, 
and  the  school  closed  in  failure  —  a  blessing  in  disguise  — 
though  with  Pestalozzi's  faith  in  the  power  of  education 
unshaken.  Of  this  experiment  he  wrote:  "For  years  I  have 
lived  in  the  midst  of  fifty  little  beggars,  sharing  in  my  pov- 
erty my  bread  with  them,  living  like  a  beggar  myself  in  order 
to  teach  beggars  to  live  like  men." 

Turning  next  to  writing,  while  continuing  to  farm,  Pesta- 
lozzi now  tried  to  express  his  faith  in  education  in  printed 
form.  His  Leonard  and  Gertrude  (1781)  was  a  wonderfully 
beautiful  story  of  Swiss  peasant  life,  and  of  the  genius 
and  sympathy  and  love  of  a  woman  amid  degrading  sur- 
roundings. From  a  wretched  place  the  village  of  Bonnal, 
under  Pestalozzi's  pen,  was  transformed  by  the  power  of 
education.  The  book  was  a  great  success  from  the  first, 
and  for  it  Pestalozzi  was  made  a  "citizen"  of  the  French 
Republic,  along  with  Washington,  Madison,  Kosciusko, 
Wilberforce,  and  Tom  Paine.     He  continued  to  farm  and 


NEW  IDEAS  FROM  ABROAD  263 

to  think,  though  nearly  starving,  until  1798,  when  the  op- 
portunity for  which  he  was  really  fitted  came. 

Pestalozzi's  educational  experiments.  In  1798  "The 
Helvetic  Republic"  was  proclaimed,  an  event  which  divided 
Pestalozzi's  life  into  two  parts.  Up  to  this  time  he  had 
been  interested  wholly  in  the  philanthropic  aspect  of  edu- 
cation, believing  that  the  poor  could  be  regenerated  through 
education  and  labor.  From  this  time  on  he  interested  him- 
self in  the  teaching  aspect  of  the  problem,  in  the  working  out 
and  formulation  of  a  teaching  method  based  on  the  natural 
development  of  the  child,  and  in  training  others  to  teach. 
Much  to  the  disgust  of  the  authorities  of  the  new  Swiss  Gov- 
ernment, citizen  Pestalozzi  applied  for  service  as  a  school- 
teacher.   The  opportunity  to  render  such  service  soon  came. 

That  autumn  the  French  troops  invaded  Switzerland, 
and,  in  putting  down  the  stubborn  resistance  of  the  three 
German  cantons,  they  shot  down  a  large  number  of  the 
people.  Orphans  to  the  number  of  169  were  left  in  the  little 
town  of  Stanz,  and  citizen  Pestalozzi  was  given  charge  of 
them.  For  six  months  he  was  father,  mother,  teacher,  and 
nurse.  Then,  worn  out  himself,  the  orphanage  was  changed 
into  a  hospital.  A  little  later  he  became  a  schoolmaster  in 
Burgdorf ;  was  dismissed ;  became  a  teacher  in  another  school; 
and  finally,  in  1800,  opened  a  school  himself  in  an  old  castle 
there.  He  provided  separate  teachers  for  drawing  and 
singing,  geography  and  history,  language  and  arithmetic, 
and  gymnastics.  The  year  following  the  school  was  en- 
larged into  a  teachers'  training  school,  the  government  ex- 
tending him  aid  in  return  for  giving  Swiss  teachers  one 
month  of  training  as  teachers  in  his  school.  Here  he  wrote 
and  published  How  Gertrude  teaches  her  Children,  which  ex- 
plained his  methods  and  forms  his  most  important  pedagogi- 
cal work;  a  Guide  for  teaching  Spelling  and  Reading;  and  a 
Book  for  Mothers,  devoted  to  a  description  of  "object  teach- 
ing." In  1805,  the  castle  being  needed  by  the  government, 
Pestalozzi  moved  to  Yverdon,  where  he  opened  an  Institute, 
and  where  the  next  twenty  years  of  his  life  were  spent  and 
his  greatest  success  achieved. 


m  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

The  contribution  of  Pestalozzi.  The  great  contribution 
of  Pestalozzi  lay  in  that,  following  the  lead  of  Rousseau,  he 
rejected  the  teaching  of  mere  words  and  facts,  which  had 
characterized  all  elementary  education  up  to  near  the  close 
of  the  eighteenth  century,  and  tried  instead  to  reduce  the 
educational  process  to  a  well-organized  routine,  based  on  the 
natural  and  orderly  development  of  the  instincts,  capacities, 
and  powers  of  the  growing  child.  Taking  Rousseau's  idea 
of  a  return  to  nature,  he  tried  to  apply  it  to  the  education 
of  children.  This  led  to  his  rejection  of  what  he  called  the 
"empty  chattering  of  mere  words"  and  "outward  show" 
in  the  instruction  in  reading  and  the  catechism,  and  the  in- 
troduction in  their  place  of  real  studies,  based  on  observa- 
tion, experimentation,  and  reasoning.  "Sense  impression" 
became  his  watchword.  As  he  expressed  it,  he  "tried  to  or- 
ganize and  psychologize  the  educational  process"  by  har- 
monizing it  with  the  natural  development  of  the  child.  To 
this  end  he  carefully  studied  children,  and  developed  his 
methods  experimentally  as  a  result  of  his  observation.  To 
such  an  extreme  was  this  idea  carried  at  Burgdorf  and  Yver- 
don  that  all  results  of  preceding  educators  and  writers  were 
rejected,  for  fear  that  error  might  creep  in.  Read  noth- 
ing, discover  everything,  and  prove  all  things,  came  to  be 
the  working  guides  of  himself  and  his  teachers. 

The  development  of  man  he  believed  to  be  organic,  and 
to  proceed  according  to  law.  It  was  the  work  of  the  teacher 
to  discover  these  laws  of  development  and  to  assist  nature 
in  securing  "a  natural,  symmetrical,  and  harmonious  de- 
velopment" of  all  the  "faculties"  of  the  child.  Real  edu- 
cation must  develop  the  child  as  a  whole  —  mentally,  phys- 
ically, morally  —  and  called  for  the  training  of  the  head  and 
the  hand  and  the  heart.  The  only  proper  means  for  develop- 
ing the  powers  of  the  child  was  use,  and  hence  education 
must  guide  and  stimulate  self -activity,  be  based  on  intuition 
and  exercise,  and  the  sense  impressions  must  be  organized 
and  directed.  Education,  too,  if  it  is  to  follow  the  organic  de- 
velopment of  the  child,  must  observe  the  proper  progress 


II  ^i  \i.M//i   \i  -m  mi.m    \  I    \  \  KRDON 

A  picture  of  tin- iiH'i.uiii-ni  oeoapta  -i  ptomliienl  plac«  in  every 

icboolruoj)  in  Switzerland 


NEW  IDEAS  FROM  ABROAD  965 

of  child  development  and  be  graded,  so  that  each  step  of 
the  process  shall  grow  out  of  the  preceding  and  grow  into 
the  following  stage.  To  accomplish  these  ends  the  train- 
ing must  be  all-round  and  harmonious;  much  liberty  must 
be  allowed  the  child  in  learning;  education  must  proceed 
largely  by  doing  instead  of  by  words;  the  method  of  learning 
must  be  largely  analytical ;  real  objects  and  ideas  must  pre- 
cede symbols  and  words;  and  finally  the  organization  and 
correlation  of  what  is  learned  must  be  looked  after  by  the 
teacher. 

Still  more,  Pestalozzi  possessed  a  deep  and  abiding  faith, 
new  at  the  time,  in  the  power  of  education  as  a  means  of 
regenerating  society.  He  had  begun  his  work  by  trying 
to  "teach  beggars  to  live  like  men,"  and  his  belief  in  the 
potency  of  education  in  working  this  transformation,  so 
touchingly  expressed  in  his  Leonard  and  Gertrude,  never  left 
him.  He  believed  that  each  human  being  could  be  raised 
through  the  influence  of  education  to  the  level  of  an  intel- 
lectually free  and  morally  independent  life,  and  that  every 
human  being  was  entitled  to  the  right  to  attain  such  freedom 
and  independence.  The  way  to  this  lay  through  the  full  use 
of  his  developing  powers,  under  the  guidance  of  a  teacher, 
and  not  through  a  process  of  repeating  words  and  learning 
by  heart.  Not  only  the  intellectual  qualities  of  perception, 
judgment,  and  reasoning  need  exercise,  but  the  moral  powers 
as  well.  To  provide  such  exercise  and  direction  was  the 
work  of  the  school. 

Pestalozzi  also  resented  the  brutal  discipline  which  for 
ages  had  characterized  all  school  instruction,  believed  it  by 
its  very  nature  immoral,  and  tried  to  substitute  for  this  a 
strict  but  loving  discipline  —  a  "  tliinking  love,"  he  calls  it 
—  and  to  make  the  school  asnearly  as  possible  like  a  gentle 
and  refined  home.  To  a  Swiss  father,  who  on  visiting  his 
school  exclaimed,  "Why  this  is  not  a  school,  but  a  fam- 
ily," Pestalozzi  answered  that  such  a  statement  was  the 
greatest  praise  he  could  have  given  him. 

The  consequences  of  these  ideas.    The  educational  con- 


266  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

sequences  of  these  new  ideas  were  very  large.  They  in  time 
gave  aim  and  purpose  to  the  elementary  school  of  the  nine- 
teenth century,  transforming  it  from  an  instrument  of  the 
Church  for  church  ends,  to  an  instrument  of  society  to  be 
used  for  its  own  regeneration  and  the  advancement  of  the 
welfare  of  all.  The  introduction  of  the  study  of  natural  ob- 
jects in  place  of  words,  and  much  talking  about  what  was 
seen  and  studied  instead  of  parrot-like  reproductions  of  the 
words  of  a  book,  revolutionized  both  the  methods  and  the 
subject-matter  of  instruction  in  the  developing  elementary 
school.  Observation  and  investigation  tended  to  super- 
sede mere  memorizing;  class  discussion  and  thinking  to 
supersede  the  reciting  of  the  words  of  the  book;  thinking 
about  what  was  being  done  to  supersede  routine  learning; 
and  class  instruction  to  supersede  the  wasteful  individual 
teaching  which  had  for  so  long  characterized  all  school  work. 
It  meant  the  reorganization  of  the  work  of  elementary  edu- 
cation on  a  modern  basis,  with  class  organization  and  group 
instruction. 

The  work  of  Pestalozzi  also  meant  the  introduction  of  new 
subject-matter  for  instruction,  the  organization  of  new 
teaching  subjects  for  the  elementary  school,  and  the  redirec- 
tion of  the  elementary  education  of  children.  Observation 
led  to  the  development  of  elementary-science  study,  and  the 
study  of  home  geography;  talking  about  what  was  observed 
led  to  the  study  of  language  usage,  as  distinct  from  the  older 
study  of  grammar;  and  counting  and  measuring  led  to  the 
study  of  number,  and  hence  to  a  new  type  of  primary  arith- 
metic. The  reading  of  the  school  also  changed  both  in  char- 
acter and  purpose.  In  other  words,  in  place  of  an  elementary 
education  based  on  reading,  a  little  writing  and  spelling, 
and  the  catechism,  all  of  a  memoritor  type  with  religious 
ends  in  view,  a  new  primary  school,  much  more  secular  in 
character,  was  created  by  the  work  of  Pestalozzi.  This  new 
school  was  based  on  the  study  of  real  objects,  learning 
through  sense  impressions,  the  individual  expression  of  ideas, 
child  activity,  and  the  development  of  the  child's  powers  in 


NEW  IDEAS  FROM  ABROAD  267 

an  orderly  way.  In  fact,  "the  development  of  the  facul- 
ties" of  the  child  became  a  by- word  with  Pestalozzi  and  his 
followers. 

Pestalozzi 's  deep  abiding  faith  in  the  power  of  education 
to  regenerate  society  was  highly  influential  in  Switzerland, 
throughout  Western  Europe,  and  later  in  America  in  show- 
ing how  to  deal  with  orphans,  vagrants,  and  those  suffering 
from  physical  defects  or  in  need  of  reformation,  by  providing 
for  such  a  combination  of  intellectual  and  industrial  training. 

The  spread  and  influence  of  Pestalozzi's  work.  So  fa- 
mous did  the  work  of  Pestalozzi  become  that  his  schools  at 
Burgdorf  and  Yverdon  came  to  be  "show  places,"  even  in 
a  land  filled  with  natural  wonders.  Observers  and  students 
came  from  all  over  Europe  to  see  and  to  teach  in  his  school. 
In  particular  the  educators  of  Prussia  were  attracted  by  his 
work,  and,  earlier  than  other  nations,  saw  the  far-reaching 
significance  of  his  discoveries.  Herbart  visited  his  school  as 
early  as  1799,  when  but  a  young  man  of  twenty-three,  and 
wrote  a  very  sympathetic  description  of  his  new  methods. 
Froebel  spent  the  years  1808  to  1810  as  a  teacher  at  Yver- 
don, when  he  was  a  young  man  of  twenty-six  to  eight.  "  It 
soon  became  evident  to  me,"  wrote  Froebel,  "that  *  Pesta- 
lozzi' was  to  be  the  watchword  of  my  life." 

Many  Swiss  teachers  were  trained  by  Pestalozzi,  and  these 
spread  his  work  and  ideas  over  Switzerland.  Particularly 
in  German  Switzerland  did  his  ideas  take  root  and  reorgan- 
ize education.  Of  his  Swiss  followers  one  of  the  most  in- 
fluential was  Emanuel  Fellenberg,  who,  adopting  Pestaloz- 
zi's  idea  of  combined  intellectual  and  industrial  training,  de- 
veloped a  combined  intellectual  and  manual-labor  school  at 
Hofwyl,  near  Berne,  which  he  conducted  very  successfully 
from  1806  to  1844.  By  1829,  when  his  work  was  first  made 
known  to  American  educators  through  the  articles  of  Wil- 
liam Woodbridge,  his  school  included: 

1.  A  farm  of  about  six  hundred  acres. 

2.  Workshops  for  manufacturing  clothing  and  tools. 

3.  A  printing  and  lithographing  establishment. 


268 


EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 


4.  A  literary  institution  for  the  education  of  the  well-to-do. 

5.  A  lower  school  which  trained  for  handicrafts  and  middle- 
class  occupations. 

6.  An  agricultural  school  for  the  education  of  the  poor  as  farm 
laborers,  and  as  teachers  for  the  rural  schools. 

Fellenberg's  work  was  widely  copied  in  Switzerland,  Ger- 
many, England,  and  the  United  States,  and  contained  the 
germ-idea  of  both  agricultural  and  reformatory  education. 
Pestalozzi's  ideas  in  Prussia.  It  was  in  Prussia  that 
Pestalozzi's  ideas  made  the  deepest  impression,  and  there 

that  they  were  most  successfully 
transplanted  and  carried  out.  As 
early  as  1803  an  envoy,  sent  by 
the  Prussian  king,  reported  fav- 
orably on  the  methods  used  by 
Pestalozzi,  and  in  1804  Pestaloz- 
zian  methods  were  authorized  for 
the  primary  schools  of  Prussia. 
In  1807-08,  after  the  severe  defeat 
inflicted  on  Prussia  by  Napoleon, 
the  German  philosopher  Fichte, 
who  had  taught  in  Zurich  and 
knew  Pestalozzi,  exploited  Pes- 
talozzi's work  in  Berlin,  and 
emphasized  the  importance  of 
reorganizing  the  work  of  the  com- 
mon schools  of  Prussia,  as  a  phase 
of  the  work  of  national  regenera- 
tion, along  the  lines  laid  down 
by  him.  To  popular  education, 
Fichte  declared,  must  the  nation 
turn  to  develop  new  strength  to 
face  the  future.  As  a  result  the 
civil  service  was  put  on  an  effi- 
ciency basis;  the  two-class  school 
system,  shown  in  the  accompany- 
ing drawing,  was  reorganized  and  freed  from  clerical  con- 


Educates 

about  92  % 


Fig.  51.  The  German  State 
School  Systems 

Compare  with  Fig.  45,  page  235, 
and  note  the  difference  between  a 
European  two-class  school  system 
and  the  American  democratic  educa- 
tional ladder. 


NEW  IDEAS  FROM  ABROAD  269 

trol;  and  the  basis  of  the  strong  military  state  which  set 
Europe  afire  in  1914  was  laid. 

The  Prussian  Government  now  sent  seventeen  teachers 
to  Switzerland  to  spend  three  years,  at  the  expense  of  the 
Government,  in  studying  Pestalozzi's  ideas  and  methods, 
and  they  were  particularly  enjoined  that  they  were  not  sent 
primarily  to  get  the  mechanical  side  of  this  method,  but  to 

warm  yourselves  at  the  sacred  fire  which  burns  in  the  heart  of  this 
man,  so  full  of  strength  and  love,  whose  work  has  remained  so  far 
below  what  he  originally  desired,  below  the  essential  ideas  of  his 
life,  of  which  the  method  is  only  a  feeble  product. 

You  will  have  reached  perfection  when  you  have  clearly  seen 
that  education  is  an  art,  and  the  most  sublime  and  holy  of  all,  and 
in  what  connection  it  is  with  the  great  art  of  the  education  of 
nations. 

On  their  return  these,  and  others,  spread  Pestalozzian  ideas 
throughout  Prussia,  and  so  effective  was  their  work,  and  so 
readily  did  the  Prussian  people  catch  the  spirit  of  Pesta- 
lozzi's endeavors,  that  at  the  Berlin  celebration  of  the  cen- 
tennial of  his  birth,  in  1846,  the  German  educator  Diester- 
weg  said : 

By  these  men  and  these  means,  men  trained  in  the  Institution 
at  Yverdon  under  Pestalozzi,  the  study  of  his  publications,  and  the 
applications  of  his  methods  in  the  model  and  normal  schools  of 
Prussia,  after  1808,  was  the  present  Prussian,  or  rather  Prussian- 
Pestalozzian  school  system  established,  for  he  is  entitled  to  at 
least  one-half  the  fame  of  the  German  popular  schools. 

Pestalozzianism  in  England.  Pestalozzi's  ideas  were 
also  carried  to  England,  but  in  no  such  satisfactory  manner 
as  to  the  German  States.  Where  German  lands  received 
both  the  method  and  the  spirit,  the  English  obtained  only 
the  form.  The  introduction  into  England  was  due  chiefly 
to  the  Reverend  Charles  Mayo  and  his  sister  Elizabeth,  but 
England  was  at  that  time  so  deeply  immersed  in  monitorial 
instruction  that  the  country  was  not  in  a  frame  of  mind  to 
profit  greatly  from  the  new  ideas.  Mayo  spent  the  years 
1819-22  at  Yverdon,  when  Pestalozzi's  institute  was  in  its 


*70  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

decline,  rent  by  dissensions,  and  rapidly  approaching  its  end. 
On  his  return  to  England  he  opened  a  private  Pestalozzian 
school  for  children  of  the  wealthy.  His  sister  shortly  after- 
ward published  a  Pestalozzian  manual  for  teachers,  called 
Lessons  on  Objects,  but  missed  the  spirit  of  Pestalozzi's 
work.  The  lessons  were  formal,  scientific,  far  too  detailed 
and  analytical,  and  much  beyond  the  comprehension  of 
children. 

For  example,  if  common  salt  were  the  "  object "  for  the 
lesson,  the  children  would  be  expected  to  learn  its  chemical 
composition,  its  uses,  how  and  where  found  in  nature,  how 
mined  and  refined,  that  its  crystalline  form  is  cubical,  that 
it  varies  in  color  from  white  to  bluish  and  reddish,  that  it 
is  transparent  to  translucent,  that  it  is  soluble  in  water  and 
saline  in  taste,  that  it  imparts  a  yellow  color  to  a  flame, 
etc.,  without  more  contact  with  a  piece  of  real  salt  than  see- 
ing the  "specimen"  passed  around  by  the  teacher.  "Ob- 
ject teaching"  soon  became  the  great  educational  fad  in 
England,  and  was  later  brought  to  the  United  States.  The 
effect  of  this  instruction  was  to  "formalize"  the  Pesta- 
lozzian movement  in  England,  and  in  consequence  much  of 
the  finer  spirit  and  significance  of  Pestalozzi's  work  was  lost. 

The  Mayos  were  prominent  in  the  Infant-School  move- 
ment, which  made  such  great  headway  in  England  after 
about  1820,  and  in  1836  they  helped  organize  "The  Home 
and  Colonial  Infant  Society"  to  spread  the  idea  at  home  and 
abroad.  This  Society  adopted  the  English  interpretation 
of  Pestalozzian  methods,  established  a  Model  Infant  School 
and  a  Training  College  for  teachers,  and  had  an  important 
influence  in  introducing  the  English  type  of  formalized 
Pestalozzianism  into  the  schools  of  the  United  States. 

III.  Early  American  Travelers  and  Official  Reports 
Early  American  travelers.  Our  first  contact  with  the  edu- 
cational thought  and  practices  of  continental  Europe  came 
through  some  half-dozen  Americans  who  studied  at  the 
Prussian  university  of  Gottingen,  then  almost  unknown 


NEW  IDEAS  FROM  ABROAD  271 

outside  of  German  lands,  before  1820.  Our  first  contact  with 
the  work  of  Pestalozzi  in  Switzerland  came  through  Joseph 
Naef,  one  of  Pestalozzi's  teachers,  who  came  to  America  and 
taught  a  private  school  in  Philadelphia  for  a  time  between 
1806  and  1809,  and  who  later  wandered  westward  and  for  a 
short  time  taught  in  a  little  communistic  colony  at  New 
Harmony,  Indiana.  So  little  had  been  done,  though,  in  de- 
veloping public  education  with  us  before  1810,  south  of  New 
England  and  New  York,  that  Naef  s  work  remained  almost 
unknown,  while  those  who  had  studied  at  Gottingen  in- 
fluenced educational  development,  even  in  the  colleges  of 
the  time,  but  very  little. 

Our  first  real  contact  with  continental  European  ideas 
and  accomplishments  in  education  came  in  1819,  through 
the  publication  in  this  country  of  A  Year  in  Europe,  written 
by  Professor  John  Griscom,  of  New  York,  who  had  spent 
the  year  1818-19  in  visiting  the  schools,  colleges,  and  chari- 
table institutions  of  Great  Britain,  Holland,  France,  Swit- 
zerland, and  Italy.  His  description  of  his  visit  to  Pestalozzi 
awakened  some  interest,  and  his  volume  was  read  by  the 
leading  thinkers  of  the  day.  Our  city  and  state  school  sys- 
tems, though,  were  as  yet  hardly  under  way,  Lancastrianism 
was  at  its  height,  and  Griscom's  work  influenced  our  com- 
mon-school development  scarcely  at  all.  Griscom's  de- 
scription of  the  high  school  at  Edinburgh,  though,  probably 
gave  the  name  to  the  new  school  at  Boston  (p.  190)  and 
to  the  American  secondary  school  as  well. 

The  chief  influence  of  the  book  proved  to  be  along  the 
lines  of  reformatory  and  charitable  education,  in  which  we 
were  just  making  a  beginning.  Griscom  told  what  had  been 
done  along  these  lines  in  Europe.  This  information  was 
welcomed  by  the  few  Americans  interested  in  such  develop- 
ment and  came  as  a  valuable  contribution  at  the  time. 

Another  early  American  traveler  was  William  C.  Wood- 
bridge,  of  New  England,  who  spent  the  year  1820  and  the 
years  1825-29  in  Europe.  It  was  he  who,  through  his  enthu- 
siastic "Letters,'*  published  in  Russell's  American  Journal 


272  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

of  Education,  and  elsewhere,  first  really  brought  the  work 
of  the  Swiss  reformers  —  Pestalozzi  and  Fellenberg  —  to 
the  attention  of  American  teachers.  After  his  return  he 
published  two  textbooks  on  geography  (1824,  1833),  based 
on  Pestalozzian  methods,  and  it  was  he  who  inspired  Lowell 
Mason  to  offer  his  services,  in  1836,  to  introduce  music  into 
the  schools  of  Boston.  This  was  probably  the  first  teaching 
of  music  in  the  schools  of  the  United  States,  so  successful 
with  us  up  to  that  time  had  been  the  Calvinistic  idea  of  the 
repression  as  irreligious  of  all  joyful  and  artistic  instincts. 
Even  this  start  was  a  failure,  and  it  was  a  quarter  of  a  cen- 
tury later  before  music  and  drawing  became  generally  rec- 
ognized as  subjects  of  study,  even  in  the  better  city  schools. 

Cousin's  Report  on  German  education.  The  first  docu- 
ment describing  European  schools  which  made  any  deep 
impression  on  those  then  engaged  in  organizing  our  Ameri- 
can state  school  systems  was  an  English  translation  of  the 
famous  Report  on  the  Condition  of  Public  Instruction  in  Ger- 
many, and  particularly  Prussia,  made  to  the  French  Govern- 
ment by  Victor  Cousin,  in  1831  and  publicly  printed  the  next 
year.  This  Report  was  reprinted  in  England,  in  1834,  and 
the  first  half  of  it,  explaining  the  administrative  organiza- 
tion of  Prussian  education  and  the  Prussian  system  of  peo- 
ple's schools,  was  reprinted  in  New  York  City,  in  1835. 

After  the  overthrow  of  the  old  restored  monarchy  in 
France,  in  1830,  a  new  government  was  set  up,  supported  by 
the  leading  thinkers  of  the  time.  One  of  the  most  impor- 
tant measures  to  which  attention  was  at  once  turned  was 
the  creation  of  a  state  school  system  for  France.  Cousin 
was  sent  to  Prussia  to  study  what  was  then  the  best  state 
school  system  in  Europe,  and  so  convincing  was  his  Report 
that,  despite  bitter  national  antipathies,  it  carried  convic- 
tion throughout  France  and  was  deeply  influential  in  se- 
curing the  creation  of  the  first  French  national  schools,  in 
1833.  The  church  control  of  the  school  committees  was 
broken,  the  examination  of  teachers  was  required,  thirty 
new  normal  schools  to  train  teachers  were  established,  state 


NEW  IDEAS  PROM  ABROAD  273 

aid  for  primary  and  infant  schools  was  provided,  freedom  of 
religious  instruction  was  guaranteed,  recommendation  was 
changed  to  obligation,  and  both  state  and  local  supervision 
were  instituted.  The  modern  "state  school  system  of  France 
dates  from  the  Law  of  1833,  and  this  from  Cousin's  Report. 

Influence  of  Cousin's  Report  in  the  United  States.  The 
translation  of  Cousin's  Report  into  English  and  the  publica- 
tion of  half  of  it  in  the  United  States  came  just  as  our  new 
state  school  systems  were  beginning  to  take  form,  and  just 
as  the  battle  for  state  control  was  in  full  swing.  Its  con- 
vincing description  of  the  strong  Prussian  state  school  organ- 
ization, under  a  state  minister,  and  with  state  control  over 
so  many  matters,  was  everywhere  of  value  in  this  country. 
It  gave  support  to  the  demands  of  the  few  leaders  of  the 
time  who  were  struggling  to  reduce  the  rampant  district 
system  to  some  semblance  of  order,  and  who  were  trying 
to  organize  the  thousands  of  little  community  school  sys- 
tems in  each  State  into  one  state  school  system,  under  some 
form  of  centralized  control.  Though  actually  influencing 
legislation  in  but  one  or  two  of  our  States,  the  two  main 
ideas  gained  from  it  were  the  importance  of  some  form  of 
centralized  state  control,  and  the  training  of  teachers  in  state 
normal  schools.  These  influences  were  evident  chiefly 
in  Michigan  and  Massachusetts. 

The  publication  of  the  Report  came  just  as  Michigan  was 
organizing  to  enter  the  Union  as  a  State,  and  two  leaders 
there  —  John  D.  Pierce,  a  minister  who  became  the  first 
head  of  the  state  school  system,  and  General  Isaac  E.  Crary, 
chairman  of  the  committee  on  education  in  the  constitutional 
convention  —  obtained  a  copy  of  it  and  were  deeply  im- 
pressed by  Cousin's  statements.  They  discussed  together 
"the  fundamental  principles  which  were  deemed  important 
for  the  convention  to  adopt,"  and  it  was  agreed  by  them 
that  education  "should  be  made  a  distinct  branch  of  the  gov- 
ernment, and  that  the  constitution  ought  to  provide  for  an 
officer  who  should  have  the  whole  matter  in  charge  and  thus 
keep  its  importance  perpetually  before  the  public  mind." 


274  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

Largely  as  a  result  of  their  efforts  Michigan  was  the  first 
State  to  take  the  16th  section  school  lands,  given  by  the  Na- 
tional Government  for  schools,  from  the  control  of  the  town- 
ships and  place  them  under  the  control  of  the  State,  and  like- 
wise the  first  State  to  create  the  appointive  office  (a  pure 
Prussian  imitation)  of  State  Superintendent  of  Public  In- 
struction. The  first  constitution  also  made  very  definite 
provision  for  a  state  system  of  schools  and  a  state  univer- 
sity. 

A  later  superintendent  of  public  instruction  in  Michigan, 
writing  in  1852  on  the  history  of  the  system,  said  that  "the 
system  of  public  instruction  which  was  intended  to  be  es- 
tablished by  the  framers  of  the  constitution,  the  conception 
of  the  office,  its  province,  its  powers,  and  duties  were  de- 
rived from  Prussia."  That  Cousin's  Report  influenced  the 
class-organization  or  class-work  of  the  Michigan  schools,  or 
the  schools  of  any  other  State  for  that  matter,  is  a  conten- 
tion recently  advanced  which  the  facts  scarcely  warrant. 

In  Massachusetts  the  Report  came  just  in  time  to  give 
useful  support  to  Brooks,  Carter,  Mann,  and  the  few  others 
interested  who  were  trying  there  to  secure  the  establishment 
of  the  first  American  state  normal  school.  The  normal- 
school  idea  in  America,  though,  as  we  shall  point  out  a  little 
later,  was  of  native  American  growth,  and  had  clearly  taken 
form  before  Prussian  normal  schools  were  known  of  in  this 
country.  The  descriptions  of  the  Prussian  training  schools 
for  teachers  only  awakened  a  new  support  and  helped  along 
more  rapidly  a  movement  which  was  then  well  under  way 
as  a  purely  native  development. 

Stowe's  Report  on  Elementary  Education  in  Europe.  In 
1829  there  was  formed  at  Cincinnati  the  "Western  Aca- 
demic Institute  and  Board  of  Education,"  and  for  a  decade 
this  was  practically  the  only  active  organization  for  educa- 
tion in  the  State  of  Ohio.  It  was  a  private  propaganda  or- 
ganization, and  included  in  its  membership  such  men  as 
Lyman  Beecher,  Samuel  Lewis,  and  Professor  Calvin  E. 
Stowe.     Money  was  raised,  an  agent  (Lewis)  was  sent  to 


NEW  IDEAS  FROM  ABROAD  275 

visit  the  schools  of  the  State,  reports  as  to  conditions  were 
prepared,  and  delegations  were  sent  to  the  legislature  to 
urge  action.  When  Professor  Stowe  started  for  Europe,  in 
1836,  to  buy  a  library  for  the  Lane  Theological  Seminary, 
with  which  he  was  connected,  the  "Institute"  induced  the 
legislature  of  Ohio  to  commission  him  to  examine  and  report 
on  the  systems  of  elementary  instruction  found  there.  The 
result  was  his  celebrated  Report  on  Elementary  Education 
in  Europe,  made  to  the  legislature  in  1837. 

This  was  the  first  report  on  European  educational  condi- 
tions by  an  American  which  attracted  general  attention.  In 
it  he  contrasted  educational  conditions  in  Ohio  with  those 
of  Prussia  and  WUrtemberg,  with  particular  reference  to  the 
organization  and  thoroughness  of  the  instruction,  and  the 
maintenance  of  institutions  for  imparting  to  prospective 
teachers  some  knowledge  of  the  science  and  art  of  teaching. 
The  meager  legal  requirements  in  Ohio  of  instruction  in  read- 
ing and  writing  and  arithmetic,  with  school  trustees  fre- 
quently forbidding  instruction  in  any  higher  branches;  the 
untrained  and  poorly  educated  teachers,  and  the  absence  in 
the  State  of  any  means  of  training  teachers;  he  contrasted 
with  the  enriched  elementary-school  curriculum,  the  Pesta- 
lozzian  methods,  and  the  well-informed  and  trained  teachers 
of  Prussia  and  WUrtemberg.  The  Report  commanded  the  ad- 
miration of  legislators  and  educators,  was  widely  read,  and 
"not  a  little  of  the  advancement  in  common  schools,"  says 
Barnard,  "during  the  next  twenty  years  may  be  traced  to 
this  Report."  The  legislature  of  Ohio  ordered  ten  thousand 
copies  of  it  printed,  and  a  copy  sent  to  every  school  district 
in  the  State.  It  was  later  ordered  reprinted  and  circulated 
by  vote  of  the  legislatures  of  Pennsylvania,  Massachusetts, 
Michigan,  North  Carolina,  and  Virginia. 

In  his  summary  Professor  Stowe  said: 

But  perhaps  some  will  be  ready  to  say,  "The  scheme  is  indeed 
an  excellent  one,  provided  only  it  were  practicable;  but  the  idea  of 
introducing  so  extensive  and  complete  a  course  of  study  into  our 
common  schools  is  entirely  visionary,  and  can  never  be  realized." 


376  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

I  answer,  that  it  is  no  theory  that  I  have  been  exhibiting,  but  a 
matter  of  fact,  a  copy  of  actual  practice.  The  above  system  is  no 
visionary  scheme,  emanating  from  the  closet  of  a  recluse,  but  a 
sketch  of  the  course  of  instruction  now  actually  pursued  by  thou- 
sands of  schoolmasters,  in  the  best  district  schools  that  have  ever 
been  organized.  It  can  be  done;  for  it  has  been  done  —  it  is  now 
done:  and  it  ought  to  be  done.  If  it  can  be  done  in  Europe,  I 
believe  it  can  be  done  in  the  United  States:  if  it  can  be  done  in 
Prussia,  I  know  it  can  be  done  in  Ohio. 

To  show  how  much  influence  this  Report  had  with  legisla- 
tures in  Ohio  it  might  be  added  that  it  was  not  until  1848 
that  grammar  and  geography  were  added  to  the  narrow  ele- 
mentary-school curriculum,  not  until  1853  that  the  rate-bill 
was  abandoned  and  the  schools  made  free,  and  almost  three 
quarters  of  a  century  before  the  first  state  normal  school 
was  established  by  the  State. 

Barnard,  Bache,  and  Dr.  Julius.  In  the  years  1835-37 
Henry  Barnard  visited  the  schools  of  the  different  countries 
of  Europe,  and  from  this  visit  dates  his  interest  in  intro- 
ducing into  our  state  school  systems  the  best  of  European 
organization  and  practices,  —  an  interest  he  retained  all 
his  active  life.  He  made  no  special  report  at  the  time  of 
his  visit,  but  through  the  pages  of  the  educational  journals 
which  he  edited,  for  the  next  forty  years,  he  continued  to  set 
before  his  readers  interesting  descriptions  of  educational  or- 
ganization and  practices  in  other  states  and  lands.  He  also 
gathered  together  the  important  parts  of  all  these  reports 
and  issued  them  in  book  form,  in  1854,  under  the  title  Na- 
tional Education  in  Europe. 

In  1836  the  trustees  of  the  newly  founded  Girard  College, 
at  Philadelphia,  an  institution  for  the  education  of  orphans, 
sent  Professor  A.  D.  Bache  "to  visit  all  establishments  in 
Europe  resembling  Girard  College.',  On  his  return,  in  1839, 
his  Report  on  Education  in  Europe  was  printed.  In  this  he 
devoted  about  two  hundred  pages  to  an  enthusiastic  de- 
scription of  Pestalozzian  methods  as  he  had  seen  them  in 
the  schools  of  Holland,  and  also  described  the  German 
Gymnasium. 


NEW  IDEAS  FROM  ABROAD  277 

In  1835  a  Dr.  H.  Julius,  of  Hamburg,  crossed  the  ocean 
with~  the  Reverend  Charles  Brooks,  of  Hingham,  Massa- 
chusetts, and  during  the  forty-one  days  of  the  passage  from 
Liverpool  to  New  York,  described  to  him  the  Prussian  sys- 
tem of  elementary  schools.  Through  Brooks's  efforts  Dr. 
Julius  was  invited  to  give  an  account  of  the  Prussian  sys- 
tem of  education  before  the  committee  on  education  of  the 
Massachusetts  legislature,  but  "his  delineations,  though 
clear  and  judicious,  were  so  brief  as  led  to  no  action."  What 
he  had  to  say  was  printed  by  the  State,  and  later  on  reprinted 
by  New  York  State.  There  is  no  evidence  that  what  Dr. 
Julius  said  had  much  influence,  except  with  the  Reverend 
Mr.  Brooks,  but  upon  him  the  Prussian  idea  of  institutions 
for  training  teachers  made  a  deep  impression,  as  we  shall 
see  a  little  further  on. 

Mann's  Famous  Seventh  Report.  In  1843  Horace  Mann 
spent  some  months  visiting  schools  in  Great  Britain,  Bel- 
gium, Holland,  the  German  States,  and  France,  and  on  his 
return  devoted  his  Seventh  Report  (1843)  to  a  description  and 
appraisal  of  what  he  had  seen,  but  with  particular  reference 
to  the  studies  taught,  classification  of  pupils,  methods  of 
teaching,  teachers,  discipline,  and  the  training  of  teachers. 
Of  this  Report  Hinsdale  writes: 

Read  half  a  century  after  it  was  written,  the  Seventh  Report 
impresses  the  reader  as  being  the  work  of  an  open-minded  man, 
who  is  making  a  hurried  examination  of  educational  institutions 
that  were  before  known  to  him  only  at  second  hand.  The  matter 
is  copious;  facts  and  ideas  fairly  crowd  the  pages.  The  writer  is 
evidently  anxious  to  discover  and  report  the  exact  truth.  He 
wants  to  show  his  countrymen  the  schools  just  as  he  sees  them. 
He  has  no  prejudices  against  things  that  are  foreign.  The  writer 
not  only  has  a  first-hand  interest  in  the  subject,  but  is  also  con- 
scious that  he  is  writing  things  new  and  strange  to  his  audience. 
.  .  We  are  so  familiar  with  these  things  now  that  we  may  wonder 
at  Mr.  Mann's  enthusiasm  over  them;  but  we  must  remember 
that  a  half  century  has  wrought  great  changes  in  American  schools, 
changes  that  in  some  measure  have  grown  out  of  the  very  docu- 
ment we  are  reading. 


278  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

Mr.  Mann  ranked  the  schools  of  the  different  countries 
he  visited  in  the  following  order :  Prussia,  Saxony,  the  west- 
ern and  southern  German  states,  Holland,  Scotland,  Ireland, 
France,  Belgium,  and,  lowest  of  all,  England.  The  lack  of 
a  national  system  of  education  in  England,  in  which  the 
whole  people  participated,  he  felt  was  full  of  admonition  to 
the  people  of  Massachusetts,  as  it  was  a  condition  toward 
which  they  were  drifting  before  the  work  of  Carter  and  the 
organization  of  the  State  Board  of  Education.  The  schools 
of  the  German  States,  with  their  Pestalozzian  methods  and 
subject-matter,  trained  and  well-informed  teachers,  oral  in- 
struction, mild  discipline,  class  organization,  normal  schools 
for  teachers,  and  intelligent  supervision,  particularly  won 
his  enthusiastic  approval.  "There  are  many  things  abroad 
which  we  at  home  should  do  well  to  imitate,' *  he  wrote, 
"  things,  some  of  which  are  here  as  yet  matters  of  specula- 
tion and  theory,  but  which,  there,  have  long  been  in  opera- 
tion and  are  now  producing  a  harvest  of  rich  and  abundant 
blessings.,, 

His  controversy  with  the  Boston  schoolmasters.  This 
Report  might  have  exerted  no  greater  influence  than  other 
previous  Reports,  and  possibly  even  less,  had  it  not  been  the 
last  straw  to  the  Boston  school  principals,  many  of  whom 
had  appropriated  to  themselves  the  Secretary's  previous 
sharp  criticism  of  school  conditions  in  Massachusetts.  There 
had  been  no  comparisons  made  in  the  Report  between  the 
schools  of  Massachusetts  and  those  of  Prussia  and  Saxony, 
or  of  Boston  with  Hamburg  or  Dresden,  but  the  Boston  mas- 
ters, many  of  whom  shared  the  opposition  that  the  crea- 
tion of  the  State  Board  of  Education  had  awakened,  and 
stung  by  such  expressions  in  the  Report  as  "ignorance  of 
teachers,"  and  "sleepy  supervision,"  felt  called  upon  to  at- 
tack the  Report  in  a  very  personal  and  offensive  manner.  A 
committee  of  the  Principals'  Association  accordingly  issued 
a  book  of  144  pages,  attacking  and  replying  to  the  Report  of 
Mr.  Mann.  Two  months  later  Mr.  Mann  replied,  in  a 
volume  of  176  pages,  in  which  he  not  only  vindicated  him- 


NEW  IDEAS  FROM  ABROAD  279 

self  and  what  he  had  written,  and  pointed  out  the  difficul- 
ties with  which  he  had  to  contend  arising  from  unintelligent 
criticism,  but,  feeling  that  the  attack  on  him  had  been  un- 
provoked and  uncalled  for,  he  retaliated  on  his  assailants 
with  terrible  severity.  Though  he  objected  to  severe  pun- 
ishment for  children,  he  apparently  had  no  objection  to  giv- 
ing a  sound  drubbing  to  a  body  of  schoolmasters.  Part  of 
the  masters  later  replied  to  Mr.  Mann's  reply,  and  he  again 
responded  to  them  in  kind.  This  ended  the  controversy, 
public  opinion  being  too  thoroughly  against  the  school- 
masters to  warrant  its  further  continuance. 

The  result  of  this  unexpected  public  debate  was  to  at- 
tract very  much  more  attention  to  Mr.  Mann's  Seventh 
Report  than  would  otherwise  have  been  given  to  it,  to  fix  the 
attention  of  the  public  generally  on  the  need  for  educational 
improvement,  and  to  add  to  Mr.  Mann's  importance  in  the 
history  of  American  education.  In  particular  it  gave  sup- 
port to  the  recently  established  normal  schools,  and  to  the 
efforts  of  a  few  to  improve  instruction  by  the  adoption  of  a 
better  classification  of  pupils  and  Pestalozzian  methods  and 
subject-matter.  The  result  was  that  Mr.  Mann's  report  on 
European  school  practices  proved  to  be  the  most  influential 
of  all  the  Reports  on  education  in  Europe. 

The  Fellenberg  manual-labor  movement.  The  one  Eu- 
ropean idea  which  we  did  adopt  almost  bodily,  because  we 
had  no  previous  development  of  the  kind,  and  because  we 
found  it  so  well  suited  to  early  democratic  conditions  among 
a  people  of  little  wealth,  was  the  Pestalozzian  idea,  worked 
out  by  Fellenberg  and  his  followers  at  Hofwyl,  in  Switzer- 
land, of  combining  manual  labor  with  schooling.  Early  in 
our  national  history  the  interest  in  farming  was  strong,  the 
first  farmers'  journals  were  established,  and  there  soon  arose 
a  demand  for  special  schools  for  farmers'  sons.  The  advan- 
tages, both  pecuniary  and  educational,  of  combining  school- 
ing and  farming  made  a  strong  appeal  in  the  days  when 
money  was  scarce  and  opportunities  limited,  and  such 
schools,  drawing  their  inspiration  from  the  very  successful 


280  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

school  of  Fellenberg,  were  founded  first  in  Connecticut,  in 
1819;  Maine  in  1821;  Massachusetts  in  1824;  New  York  in 
1827;  and  New  Jersey  in  1830.  The  purpose  in  each  was 
to  unite  training  in  agriculture  with  the  studies  of  the  school, 
and  thus  give  to  farmers*  boys  a  double  type  of  training. 
The  idea  was  soon  extended  to  the  rapidly  rising  mechanical 
pursuits,  and  manual-labor  institutions  of  a  mechanical 
type  also  arose.  The  Oneida  School  of  Science  and  Industry, 
the  Genesee  Manual-Labor  School,  the  Aurora  Manual- 
Labor  Seminary,  and  the  Rensselaer  School,  all  in  New 
York,  were  among  the  most  important  of  these  early  insti- 
tutions. The  Amdover  Theological  Seminary  also  adopted 
the  plan,  and  by  1835  the  manual-labor-school  idea  had 
been  tried  in  a  dozen  States,  extending  from  Maine  to  Illi- 
nois. Many  of  the  institutions  thus  founded  became  col- 
leges later  on,  as  for  example  the  Indiana  Baptist  Manual- 
Labor  Institute,  which  later  became  Franklin  College;  the 
Wabash  Manual-Labor  Seminary,  in  Indiana,  which  later 
became  Wabash  College;  and  the  Knox  Manual-Labor  Col- 
lege, in  Illinois,  which  later  became  Knox  College.  In  1831 
the  short-lived  "Manual  Labor  Society  for  Promoting  Man- 
ual Labor  in  Literary  Institutions"  was  formed  in  New 
York  to  promote  the  idea.  This  Society  also  added  gym- 
nastics to  its  program,  and  the  early  recognition  of  the  value 
of  physical  training  in  the  schools  of  the  United  States  is  in 
part  due  to  the  interest  awakened  in  it  by  the  work  of  this 
Society.  In  1833  the  governor  of  Indiana  recommended  to 
the  legislature  the  establishment  of  manual-labor  acade- 
mies to  train  teachers  for  the  schools  of  the  State,  and  in  1836 
a  resolution  was  offered  in  the  United  States  Senate  propos- 
ing "a  grant  of  public  lands  to  one  or  more  colleges  in  each 
of  the  new  States  for  educating  the  poor  upon  the  manual- 
labor  system." 

The  manual-labor  idea,  however,  was  short-lived  in  this 
country.  The  rise  of  cities  and  wealth  and  social  classes 
was  against  the  idea,  and  the  opening  up  of  cheap  and  rich 
farms  to  the  westward,  with  the  change  of  the  East  from 


NEW  IDEAS  FROM  ABROAD  281 

agriculture  to  manufacturing,  turned  the  agricultural  aspect 
of  the  movement  aside  for  a  generation.  When  it  reappeared 
again  in  the  Central  West  it  came  in  the  form  of  a  new  de- 
mand for  colleges  to  teach  agriculture  and  mechanic  arts, 
but  with  the  manual-labor  idea  omitted. 

General  result  of  these  foreign  influences.  The  general 
result  of  these  various  observations  by  travelers  and  official 
Reports,  extending  over  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century  in  time; 
and  the  work  of  the  newer  educational  journals,  particularly 
the  publication  work  of  Henry  Barnard;  was  to  give  to  Amer- 
ican educators  some  knowledge  of  different  and  better  school 
organizations  elsewhere.  In  particular  they  gave  strong 
support  to  the  movement,  already  well  under  way,  to  organ- 
ize the  many  local  school  systems  into  state  school  systems, 
subjecting  them  to  state  oversight  and  control;  further  stim- 
ulated the  movement,  already  well  begun,  to  grade  and  clas- 
sify the  schools  in  a  more  satisfactory  manner;  helped  to 
inaugurate  a  movement  for  the  introduction  of  Pestaloz- 
zian  methods  to  replace  the  wasteful  individual  and  the 
mechanical  Lancastrian  plans  which  had  for  so  long  been  in 
use;  and  gave  material  assistance  to  the  few  leaders  in  Mas- 
sachusetts and  New  York  who  were  urging  the  establish- 
ment by  the  State  of  professional  training  for  teachers  for 
the  educational  service.  The  distinctively  state  school 
organization  provided  for  in  the  Michigan  constitution  of 
1835,  and  the  creation  of  the  first  state  normal  schools  in 
the  United  States  in  Massachusetts,  in  1838,  are  in  part 
directly  traceable  to  the  influence  of  German  practice,  as 
described  in  these  Reports.  The  one  idea  we  for  a  time 
tried  to  copy  and  adapt  to  our  needs  was  the  Fellenberg 
manual-labor  school  for  combining  instruction  in  agricul- 
ture with  the  study  of  books.  The  later  introduction  of  a 
form  of  Pestalozzian  procedure  into  our  normal  schools  and 
city  school  systems,  and  later  into  all  our  schools,  to  which 
we  next  turn,  also  is  traceable  in  part  to  the  interest  awak- 
ened in  better  classroom  practice  by  the  descriptions  of 
Pestalozzian  instruction  in  other  lands. 


282  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

That  we  at  this  time  adopted  the  German  Volkschule,  as 
has  recently  been  asserted,  an  examination  of  the  evidence  will 
show  was  hardly  the  case.  Not  only  did  we  not  adopt  its  cur- 
riculum, or  spirit,  or  method  of  instruction,  but  we  did  not 
adopt  even  its  graded  system.  The  Volkschule  is  a  definite 
eight-year  school,  while  we  worked  out  and  have  ever  since 
retained  seven-year,  eight-year,  and  nine-year  elementary* 
schools,  in  different  parts  of  the  United  States.  That  the 
elementary  school  we  developed  was  in  general  an  eight- 
year  school,  as  in  the  German  Volkschule,  was  due  to  the 
school  age  of  children  and  to  a  perfectly  natural  native  de- 
velopment, rather  than  to  any  copying  of  foreign  models. 
The  great  thing  we  got  from  the  study  of  Prussian  schools 
was  not  a  borrowing  or  imitation  of  any  part  or  feature  — 
our  own  development  had  been  proceeding  naturally  and 
steadily  toward  the  lines  we  eventually  followed,  long  before 
we  knew  of  Prussian  work  —  but  rather  a  marked  stimulus 
to  a  further  and  faster  development  along  lines  which  were 
already  well  under  way. 

QUESTIONS  FOR  DISCUSSION 

1.  Explain  why  we  remained  isolated  educationally  for  so  long. 

2.  Is  there  any  evidence  that  the  common  tendency  of  new  democracies 
to  reject  world  experience  and  knowledge  influenced  us  also? 

3.  State  the  essential  defects  in  the  educational  plan  of  Rousseau. 

4.  State  the  change  in  the  nature  of  the  instruction  from  that  of  the 
church  schools  to  that  of  Pestalozzi. 

5.  Compare  Pestalozzi's  ideas  as  to  child  development  with  modern  ideas. 

6.  Explain  the  educational  significance  of  "self-activity,"  "sense  im- 
pression," and  "harmonious  development." 

7.  How  far  was  Pestalozzi  right  as  to  the  power  of  education  to  give 
men  intellectual  and  moral  freedom? 

8.  What  do  you  understand  Pestalozzi  to  have  meant  by  "the  develop- 
ment of  the  faculties"? 

9.  State  how  the  work  of  Pestalozzi  was  important  in  showing  the  world 
how  to  deal  with  orphans  and  defectives. 

10.  Show  how  the  germs  of  agricultural  and  technical  education  lay  in  the 
work  of  Fellenberg. 

11.  Contrast  the  German  and  the  American  school  systems,  as  shown  in 
the  figures  on  pages  235  and  268. 


NEW  IDEAS  FROM  ABROAD  283 

12.  How  do  you  explain  the  fact  that  the  Germans  got  the  spirit  of 
Pestalozzi's  work  so  much  better  than  did  the  English? 

13.  Show  why  Naef  influenced  American  development  so  little. 

14.  Point  out  the  Prussian  influences  and  characteristics  in  the  early 
organization  of  education  in  Michigan. 

15.  How  do  you  explain  the  failure  of  Stowe's  report  to  exert  a  greater 
influence  on  practice  in  Ohio? 

16.  How  do  you  explain  our  failure  to  take  up  Pestalozzian  ideas  in  in- 
struction more  rapidly? 

17.  Explain  the  reasons  for  the  popularity  of  the  manual-labor  idea,  about 
1825,  and  its  failure  to  maintain  this  popularity. 

TOPICS  FOR  INVESTIGATION  AND  REPORT 

1.  Character  of  early  educational  journalism. 

2.  Influence  of  the  ideas  of  Rousseau. 

3.  The  educational  contributions  of  Pestalozzi. 

4.  Fellenberg's  school  at  Hofwyl.   (Barnard.) 

5.  Leonard  and  Gertrude.  Read  and  characterize. 

6.  The  English  system  of  Object  Teaching. 

7.  The  Manual  Labor  idea  in  the  United  States.   (Anderson;  Barnard; 
Monroe.) 

8.  Mr.  Mann's  Seventh  Report. 

9.  Stowe's  Report  on  Education  in  Europe. 
10.  Pestalozzi  Institute  at  Yverdon. 

SELECTED  REFERENCES 

*Anderson,  L.  F.    "The  Manual  Labor  School  Movement " ;  in  Educational 
Review,  vol.  46;  pp.  369-88.     (Nov.,  1913.) 

A  very  good  historical  article  on  the  Fellenberg  movement  in  the  United  States. 
Barnard,  Henry,  Editor.     The  American  Journal  of  Education.     31  vols. 
Consult  A nalytical  Index  to ;  1 28  pp.    Published  by  United  States  Bureau 
of  Education,  Washington,  1892. 
*Barnard,  Henry.    National  Education  in  Europe,  16*5-4.     C.  W.  Bardeen, 
Syracuse. 

Reprints  of  extracts  from  many  of  the  early  Reports. 
*Barnard,  Henry.    Pestalozzi  and  hie  Educational  System.    745  pp.    C.  W. 
Bardeen,  Syracuse,  1906. 

Hiit  life,  educational  principles,  and  methods,  with  sketches  of  several  of  his  assistants. 
A  standard  volume  of  source  material  regarding  the  work  of  Pestalozzi  and  the  Pestaloz- 
zian movement,  both  in  Europe  and  America. 

Griscom,  John.    "Fellenberg  and  Hofwyl";  in  Barnard's  Journal,  vol.  31, 
pp.  269-80. 

An  extract  from  Uriscom's  Year  in  Europe. 


284  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

*Guimps,  Roger  de.  Pestalozzi;  his  Aim  and  Work.  320  pp.  C.  W.  Bar- 
deen,  Syracuse,  1894. 

A  standard  biography,  written  in  a  very  interesting  style,  and  from  the  personal  point 
of  view. 

*Hinsdale,  B.  A.  "Notes  on  the  History  of  Foreign  Influence  upon  Edu- 
cation in  the  United  States";  in  Report  of  the  United  States  Commissioner 
of  Education,  1897-98,  vol.  i,  pp.  591-629. 

Very  good  on  English,  French,  and  German  influence,  and  contains  much  valuable 
material. 

*Holman,  H.  Pestalozzi,  his  Life  and  Work.  Longmans,  Green  &  Co., 
New  York,  1908. 

A  very  useful  volume  for  the  general  student. 

*Kriisi,  Hermann,  Jr.  Life  and  Work  of  Pestalozzi.  248  pp.  American 
Book  Co.,  Cincinnati,  1875. 

A  valuable  work,  by  the  Oswego  teacher. 

*Monroe,  Paul.  Cyclopedia  of  Education.  The  Macmillan  Co.,  New  York, 
1911-13. 

The  following  articles  are  specially  important: 
1.  "Fellenberg,  P.  E.";  vol.  n,  pp.  590-91. 
8.  "Pestalozti,  J.  H.";  vol.  iv,  pp.  655-69. 

*Parker,  S.  C.  History  of  Modern  Elementary  Education.  506  pp.  Ginn 
&  Co.,  Boston,  1912. 

Chapter  XIII  is  very  good  on  the  Pestalozzian  movement  in  Europe  and  America, 
and  Chapter  XIY  on  Pestalozzian  industrial  education  for  juvenile  reform. 

*Pestalozzi,  J.  H.  Leonard  and  Gertrude.  Translated  and  abridged  by 
Eva  Channing.    181  pp.    D.  C.  Heath  Co.,  Boston,  1888. 

A  charming  story;  one  which  every  teacher  ought  to  read. 

Pestalozzi,  J.  H.  How  Gertrude  teaches  her  Children.  256  pp.  C.  W. 
Bardeen,  Syracuse,  1894. 

This  volume  contains  the  essentials  of  Pestalozzi's  ideas  and  methods,  and  shows  how 
his  methods  were  developed.    Written  in  a  somewhat  uninteresting  style. 

Pine,  John.  "The  Origin  of  the  University  of  the  State  of  New  York"; 
in  Educational  Review,  vol.  37,  pp.  284-92.     (March,  1909.) 

Pinloche,  A.     Pestalozzi  and  the  Foundation  of  the  Modern  Elementary 
School.    306  pp.     Chas.  Scribner's  Sons,  New  York,  1901. 
A  rather  technical  evaluation  of  his  work  and  influence. 

*  Quick,  R.  H.  Essays  on  Educational  Reformers.  566  pp.  2d  revised 
edition.    D.  Appleton  &  Co.,  New  York,  1890. 

Contains  a  very  well- written  chapter  on  Pestalozzi  and  his  ideas. 

Snedden,  D.  S.  American  Juvenile  Reform  Schools.  206  pp.  Teachers 
College  Contributions  to  Education,  No.  12,  New  York,  1907. 

Contains  a  brief  historical  statement,  and  an  excellent  account  of  recent  tendencies. 


CHAPTER  X 

THE  REORGANIZATION^  ELEMENTARY  EDUCATION 

I.  The  Rise  of  the  Normal  School 

Beginnings  of  the  teacher-training  idea.  The  first  train- 
ing class  for  teachers  organized  in  the  world  was  a  small 
local  school  organized  by  Father  Demia,  at  Lyons,  France, 
in  1672.  Stimulated  into  activity  by  the  results  of  the 
Protestant  Revolt,  he  had  begun  schools  in  his  parish  to 
teach  reading  and  the  catechism  to  the  children  of  his  pa- 
rishioners. Not  being  satisfied  with  the  volunteer  teachers 
he  could  obtain,  he  organized  them  into  a  class  that  he  might 
impart  to  them  the  ideas  he  had  as  to  teaching.  The  first 
real  normal  school  was  that  founded  at  Rheims,  France,  in 
1685,  by  Abbe  de  la  Salle,  to  educate  and  train  teachers  for 
the  schools  of  the  order  he  had  founded  —  "The  Brothers 
of  the  Christian  Schools"  —  to  give  free  religious  primary 
education  to  the  children  of  the  working  classes  of  France. 
He  later  founded  a  second  school  of  the  kind  in  Paris,  and 
called  each  institution  a  "Seminary  for  Schoolmasters."  In 
addition  to  imparting  a  general  education  of  the  type  of  the 
time  and  a  thorough  grounding  in  religion,  his  student  teach- 
ers were  trained  to  teach  in  practice-schools,  under  the  di- 
rection of  experienced  teachers. 

The  beginning  of  teacher-training  in  German  lands  was 
Francke's  Seminarium  Prceceptorumy  established  at  Halle, 
Prussia,  in  1697.  In  17S8  Julius  Hecker,  one  of  Francke's 
teachers,  established  the  first  regular  seminary  for  teachers 
in  Prussia,  and  in  1748  he  established  a  private  Lehrer- 
seminar  in  Berlin.  In  these  two  institutions  he  first  showed 
the  German  people  the  possibilities  of  special  training  for 
teachers.  It  was  not,  however,  until  1819  that  the  Prus- 
sian Government  established  normal  schools  to  train  teach- 
ers for  its  elementary  or  peoples'  schools. 


286  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

In  1808,  as  a  part  of  the  reorganization  of  higher  educa- 
tion in  France  by  Napoleon,  the  Ecole  Normale  Superieure 
(higher  normal  school)  of  France  was  created,  and  between 
1831  and  1833  thirty  new  normal  schools  were  established 
by  the  new  French  government.  Pestalozzi  had  trained 
teachers  in  his  methods  of  instruction  at  Burgdorf  and  Yver- 
don,  from  1800  to  1825,  but  the  Swiss  did  little  with  the  idea 
until  later.  Both  the  Lancastrian  and  the  Bell  monitorial 
systems  of  education  in  England,  which  developed  about  the 
beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century,  had  trained  their  moni- 
tors for  teachers,  but  the  first  "Training  College"  for  teach- 
ers in  England  dates  from  1835. 

Of  all  this  development,  excepting  the  work  of  Pesta- 
lozzi, we  in  America  were  ignorant  until  about  1835.  By 
that  time  we  were  so  well  on  the  way  toward  the  creation 
of  native  American  training  schools  that  the  knowledge 
of  what  Prussia  and  France  had  done,  which  came  in  then 
through  the  Reports  of  Cousin,  Julius,  and  Stowe,  merely 
stimulated  a  few  enthusiastic  workers  to  help  carry  more 
rapidly  into  effect  the  establishment  of  the  first  training 
schools  for  American  teachers. 

The  Independent  American  development.  As  early  as 
the  founding  of  Franklin's  Academy  at  Philadelphia  (p.  185) 
in  1756,  one  of  the  purposes  specified  in  its  establishment 
was  "that  others  of  the  lesser  sort  might  be  trained  as 
teachers."  In  an  article  in  the  Massachusetts  Magazine,  for 
June,  1789,  on  "The  Importance  of  Studying  the  English 
Language  Grammatically,"  the  author  recommends  the 
establishment  of  institutions  to  prepare  "young  gentle- 
men for  schoolkeeping."  In  a  commencement  address  at 
Yale  College,  in  1816,  on  "The  State  of  Education  in  Con- 
necticut," by  Denison  Olmstead,  a  plan  for  "an  academy 
for  schoolmasters"  was  outlined  and  urged,  to  prepare  in- 
tending teachers  for  "the  organization  and  government  of 
a  school."  In  1823  two  papers  appeared,  one  by  William 
Russell,  urging  the  establishment  of  such  schools,  and  in 
1825  two  more,  and  to  these  four  papers  Mr.  Barnard  traces 


ELEMENTARY  EDUCATION  REORGANIZED     287 

much  of  the  early  interest  in  teacher  training  in  the  United 
States.  As  early  as  1820  Mr.  James  G.  Carter  (p.  164), 
often  called  the  "Father  of  the  Massachusetts  School  Sys- 
tem and  of  Normal  Schools,"  published  a  pamphlet  in  which 
he  suggested  an  "institution  for  the  training  of  teachers," 
and  during  1824-25  he  published  numerous  newspaper 
articles  and  public  appeals  for  the  establishment  of  such  an 
institution.  In  1827  he  showed  his  faith  in  such  schools 
by  opening  one  himself,  at  Lancaster,  Massachusetts,  and 
petitioning  the  legislature  of  the  State  for  aid.  This  was 
probably  the  second  school  of  its  kind  in  America. 

From  this  time  on  many  articles,  widely  scattered  in 
place  of  publication,  appeared  urging  that  something  be 
done  by  the  States  in  the  matter.  The  demand  which  now 
arose  for  teacher-training  institutions  was  only  another 
phase  of  the  new  democratic  movement  throughout  the 
country,  which  was  calling  for  both  votes  and  schools.  The 
general  enlightenment  of  the  people  having  been  conceived 
as  essential  to  the  protection  and  preservation  of  republican 
institutions,  it  was  important,  as  Governor  Clinton  expressed 
it,  that  the  "  mind  and  morals  of  the  rising  and  perhaps  the 
destinies  of  all  future  generations,  be  not  entrusted  to  the 
guardianship  of  incompetence.,, 

Our  first  teacher-training  school.  The  first  teacher-train- 
ing school  in  America  was  established  privately,  in  1823, 
by  the  Reverend  Samuel  R.  Hall,  who  opened  a  tuition 
school  for  training  teachers  at  Concord,  Vermont.  This 
he  continued  there  until  1830;  at  Andover,  Massachusetts, 
until  1837;  and  at  Plymouth,  New  Hampshire,  until  1840. 
He  offered  a  three-years'  course,  based  on  a  common-school 
education,  which  reviewed  the  common-school  branches; 
studied  much  mathematics,  some  book  chemistry  and  natu- 
ral philosophy,  logic,  astronomy,  evidences  of  Christianity, 
moral  and  intellectual  philosophy;  and,  in  the  third  term  of 
the  third  year,  took  up  a  new  study  which  he  called  the  "Art 
of  Teaching."  Practice  teaching  was  obtained  by  teaching 
during  the  winter  in  the  rural  schools.     It  was  the  typical 


288  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

academy  training  of  the  time,  with  the  Art  of  Teaching 
added.  Without  a  professional  book  to  guide  him,  and 
relying  only  on  his  experience  in  teaching,  Hall  tried  to  tell 
his  pupils  how  to  organize  and  manage  a  school.  To  make 
clear  his  ideas  he  wrote  out  a  series  of  Lectures  on  School- 
keeping,  which  some  friends  induced  him  to  publish.  This 
appeared  in  1829,  and  was  the  first  professional  book  in  Eng- 
lish issued  in  America.  It  was  a  success  from  the  first, 
illustrating  the  rising  professional  interest  of  the  time.  The 
acting  superintendent  of  common  schools  of  New  York  or- 
dered ten  thousand  copies  of  it  for  distribution  through- 
out the  State,  and  a  committee  on  education  in  Kentucky 
recommended  that  the  same  be  done  for  that  State. 

The  academies  begin  teacher-training.  The  Lancas- 
trian higher  schools  in  New  York  and  elsewhere  had,  by 
1810,  evolved  classes  for  educating  monitors  as  teachers,  and 
Governor  Clinton,  in  1826,  recommended  to  the  legislature 
of  New  York  the  establishment  by  the  State  of  "  a  seminary 
for  the  education  of  teachers  in  the  monitorial  system  of 
instruction."  In  1827,  he  recommended  the  creation  of  "a 
central  school  in  each  county  for  the  education  of  teachers.,, 
Again,  in  1828,  he  recommended  the  establishment  of  county 
monitorial  high  schools,  "  a  measure  so  well  calculated  to  raise 
the  character  of  our  schoolmasters  and  to  double  the  power 
of  our  artisans  by  giving  them  a  scientific  education." 

Still  earlier  (1821)  the  Board  of  Regents  of  the  State  of 
New  York  had  declared  that  it  was  to  the  academies  of  the 
State  "that  we  must  look  for  a  supply  of  teachers  for  the 
common  school,"  and  the  committee  of  the  legislature,  to 
whom  Governor  Clinton's  recommendations  had  been  re- 
ferred, thought  as  had  the  Regents.  The  result  was  the  New 
York  law  of  1827,  appropriating  state  aid  to  the  academies 
"to  promote  the  education  of  teachers."  In  the  Annual 
Report  of  the  Regents  for  1828  we  find  the  statement  that 

the  academies  have  become,  in  the  opinion  of  the  Regents,  what  it 
has  always  been  desirable  they  should  be,  fit  Seminaries  for  im- 


<. 


ELEMENTARY  EDUCATION  REORGANIZED     289 

parting  instruction  in  the  higher  branches  of  English  education, 
and  especially  for  qualifying  teachers  of  Common  Schools. 

In  the  Report  for  1831  two  academies  report  "Principles  of 
Teaching' '  as  a  new  subject  of  study,  and  by  1835  five  were 
offering  instruction  in  this  new  subject.  In  1834  the  New 
York  Legislature  enacted  "the  first  law  in  this  country 
making  provision  for  the  professional  education  of  teachers 
for  common  schools.'*  After  providing  for  state  aid  to  one 
academy  in  each  of  the  eight  judicial  districts  of  the  State, 
the  law  reads: 

The  trustees  of  academies  to  which  any  distribution  of  money 
shall  be  made  by  virtue  of  this  act  shall  cause  the  same  to  be 
expended  in  educating  teachers  of  common  schools  in  such  manner 
and  under  such  regulations  as  said  Regents  shall  prescribe. 

Excepting  the  Lancastrian  monitorial  schools,  and  the 
private  schools  of  Hall  and  Carter,  this  was  the  first  form 
of  the  normal  school  idea  in  the  United  States.  In  this  form 
the  training  of  teachers  was  continued  in  New  York  State 
until  the  establishment  of  the  first  State  Normal  School,  at 
Albany,  in  1844,  with  David  Page  as  principal.  In  1849 
teacher-training  in  the  academies  was  reestablished,  and  still 
exists  in  the  high  schools  of  the  State. 

The  training  of  teachers  in  the  academies  now  became 
common  everywhere.  Among  the  older  and  more  impor- 
tant ones,  Phillips  Andover,  for  example,  introduced  an 
English  course  primarily  to  train  teachers,  and  many  other 
New  England  academies  did  the  same.  To  the  south  and 
westward  many  academies  also  added  instruction  intended 
for  teachers,  and  several  offered  instruction  for  teachers  on 
the  manual-labor  part-time  plan.  In  Indiana,  Governor 
Noble,  in  1833,  recommended  to  the  legislature,  "that  semi- 
naries be  fitted  to  instruct  and  prepare  teachers,"  and  sug- 
gested that  state  aid  be  granted  to  one  or  more  such  insti- 
tutions "for  the  preparation  of  young  men  as  teachers  for 
the  township  schools  on  the  manual  labor  system." 

The  training  offered  was  almost  entirely  academic,  as  it 


290  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

was  also  in  the  first  state  normal  schools  as  well,  there  being 
as  yet  no  professional  body  of  knowledge  to  teach.  There 
was  as  yet  no  organized  psychology;  child  study  had  not 
been  thought  of;  and  there  was  no  organized  history  of 
education,  applied  psychology,  philosophy  of  education,  or 
methodology  of  instruction.  Principles  of  teaching  and 
school  management,  taught  by  lectures  and  almost  entirely 
out  of  the  personal  experience  of  the  principal  of  the  school, 
was  about  all  of  professional  instruction  there  was  to  give. 
This  constituted  one  study,  and  the  remainder  of  the  time 
was  given  to  reviews  of  the  common-school  subjects  and  to 
advanced  academic  studies. 

Our  first  state  normal  schools.  The  publication  of  the 
Reports  by  Cousin  (1835)  and  Stowe  (1837),  with  their 
descriptions  of  the  teacher-training  seminaries  of  Prussia, 
together  with  the  contact  of  Dr.  Julius  and  the  Reverend 
Charles  Brooks  (1845),  united  to  give  valuable  support  to 
the  efforts  of  Carter,  Mann,  and  a  few  others  in  Massachu- 
setts who  were  laboring  to  inaugurate  such  schools  there. 
Carter,  in  particular,  had  been  at  work  on  the  idea  for  a 
decade  and  a  half,  and  on  his  election  to  the  legislature,  in 
1835,  he  began  a  campaign  that  resulted  in  the  creation  of 
the  State  Board  of  Education  in  1837,  and  the  first  American 
state  normal  schools  in  1838.  Though  the  law  gave  no  name 
to  these  new  institutions,  they  soon  settled  down  to  that  of 
Normal  Schools  —  a  distinctively  French  term. 

While  Carter  worked  with  the  legislature,  Brooks  worked 
with  the  people,  traveling  over  two  thousand  miles  in  his 
chaise  and  at  his  own  expense  throughout  Massachusetts, 
during  the  years  1835-38,  explaining  the  Prussian  system  of 
teacher-training  and  the  Massachusetts  need  for  such,  and 
everywhere  awakening  interest  in  the  idea  by  his  enthusi- 
astic portrayal.  Finally  a  citizen  of  Boston,  Mr.  Edmund 
Dwight,  authorized  Mr.  Mann  to  say  to  the  legislature 
that  he  would  personally  give  $10,000  for  the  project,  if  the 
State  of  Massachusetts  would  give  a  similar  amount.  A 
bill  to  this  effect  was  put  through  by  Carter,  then  chairman 


3    C 
<    —      X: 


3    h 


o 

I|l 

G 


H  1 


s  S 


REV.  CHARLES  BROOKS 

(1795-1872) 

Prominent  in  the  establishment 

of  the  First  Normal  Schools 


ELEMENTARY  EDUCATION  REORGANIZED      291 

of  the  committee  on  education  in  the  State  Senate,  and  the 
new  State  Board  of  Education  was  authorized  to  expend 
the  money  "in  qualifying  teachers  for  the  common  schools 
of  Massachusetts."  No  schools  were  created  and  no  plans 
were  laid  down,  everything  being  left  to  Mr.  Mann  and  the 
Board  to  decide.  After  mature  deliberation  it  was  deter- 
mined not  to  follow  the  New  York  plan  of  aiding  academies, 
but  instead  to  create  special  state  schools  for  the  purpose, 
as  had  been  done  in  France  and  in  German  lands. 


Fio.  52.  Where  the  First  State  Normal  School  in  America  opened 

On  July  3,  1839,  the  first  state  normal  school  in  the  United 
States  was  opened  in  the  town  hall  at  Lexington,  Massa- 
chusetts, with  one  instructor  and  three  students.  At  the 
close  of  the  first  quarter  there  were  but  twelve  students, 
■ad  at  the  end  of  three  years  but  thirty -one.  The  course 
of  instruction  was  one  year  in  length,  but  could  be  extended 
to  two  years.  It  was  much  the  same  as  Hall's  earlier  one, 
but  the  distinctive  feature  of  the  school  was  the  addition 
of  a  Model  School,  in  which  the  students  observed  and 
taught. 

The  opening  of  this  first  school  was  not  particularly  aus- 


292 


EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 


picious.  Few  knew  what  such  a  school  was  to  be.  Many 
teachers  regarded  its  creation  as  derogatory  to  them.  Many 
academies  did  not  especially  welcome  its  competition.  Not 
a  note  of  congratulation  welcomed  the  new  principal  to  his 
post.  Only  a  few  zealots  in  the  cause  of  reform  looked  upon 
its  opening  with  favor.  Much  depended  on  the  new  prin- 
cipal, and  of  him  Horace  Mann  later  wrote:  "Had  it  not 
been  for  Mr.  Cyrus  Pierce,  I  consider  that  the  cause  of  nor- 
mal schools  would  have  failed,  or  have  been  postponed  for 
an  indefinite  period."  As  it  was  the  new  schools  had  to 
weather  legislative  storms  for  a  decade  before  they  became 
firmly  established  as  parts  of  the  school  system  of  the  State. 
It  is  indeed  fortunate  that  this  new  institution  was  created 
and  its  period  of  trial  carried  through  in  Massachusetts, 
under  the  care  of  so  able  an  advocate  and  protector  as  Mr. 
Mann.  Massachusetts  was  without  doubt  the  only  State 
in  the  Union  where  state  normal  schools  could  have  been 
established  at  so  early  a  date,  or  where,  if  established,  they 
would  have  been  allowed  to  remain. 

On  September  5th,  1839,  the  State  Board  of  Education 
opened  another  normal  school  at  Barre,  and  the  third  at 
Bridge  water,  in  1840.  Speaking  at  the  dedication  of  the 
first  building  for  normal  school  purposes  erected  in  the 
United  States,  at  Bridge  water,  in  1846,  Mr.  Mann  revealed 


Fig.  53.  The  First  State  Normal  School  Building  in  America 

At  Bridgewater,  Massachusetts.  Dedicated  by  Horace  Mann,  in  1846. 


ELEMENTARY  EDUCATION  REORGANIZED      293 

the  deep  interest  he  felt  in  the  establishment  of  normal 
schools,  in  the  following  words : 

I  believe  the  Normal  schools  to  be  a  new  instrumentality  in  the 
advancement  of  the  race.  I  believe  that  without  them  free  schools 
themselves  would  be  shorn  of  their  strength  and  their  healing 
power,  and  would  at  length  become  mere  charity  schools,  and  thus 
die  out  in  fact  and  in  form.  Neither  the  art  of  printing,  nor  the 
trial  by  jury,  nor  a  free  press,  nor  free  suffrage,  can  long  exist  to 
any  beneficial  and  salutary  purpose  without  schools  for  the  training 
of  teachers;  for  if  the  character  and  qualifications  of  teachers  be 
allowed  to  degenerate,  the  free  schools  will  become  pauper  schools, 
and  the  pauper  schools  will  produce  pauper  souls,  and  the  free 
press  will  become  a  false  and  licentious  press,  and  ignorant  voters 
will  become  venal  voters,  and  through  the  medium  and  guise  of 
republican  forms  an  oligarchy  of  profligate  and  flagitious  men  will 
govern  the  land;  nay,  the  universal  diffusion  and  ultimate  triumph 
of  all-glorious  Christianity  itself  must  await  the  time  when  know- 
ledge shall  be  diffused  among  men  through  the  instrumentality  of 
good  schools.  Coiled  up  in  this  institution,  as  in  a  spring,  there  is 
a  vigor  whose  uncoiling  may  wheel  the  spheres. 

Further  development  and  change  in  character.  The 
States  which  established  normal  schools,  before  1860,  and 
their  order  of  establishment  were : 

1839.  Massachusetts  (1st).  1854.  Massachusetts  (4th). 

1839.  Massachusetts  (2d).  1854.  Rhode  Island. 

1840.  Massachusetts  (3d).  1855.  New  Jersey. 
1844.  New  York.  1857.  Illinois. 
1849.  Connecticut.  1859.  Pennsylvania. 
1849.  Michigan.  1860.  Minnesota. 

The  year  1860  thus  found  the  United  States  with  twelve 
state  normal  schools,  in  nine  States  (see  map,  p.  242),  and 
six  private  schools  organized  for  the  same  purpose.  By  1865 
the  number  had  increased  to  twenty  state  schools,  and  there- 
after, for  reasons  which  we  will  next  describe,  the  develop- 
ment of  both  public  and  private  normal  schools  was  rapid. 
Their  development,  compared  with  the  growth  of  the  United 
States,  is  shown  in  the  figure  on  the  following  page.    Teacher- 


£94 


EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 


training  also  changed  markedly  in  character,  after  about 
1860,  with  the  rise  of  a  new  methodology  of  instruction, 
which  we  shall  next  describe. 


1840    1850     1860    .1870    1880    1890    1900    1910    1920 

Fig.  54.  Growth  op  Public  and  Private  Normal  Schools  in  the 
United  States 

High-school  training  classes  not  included. 


II.  The  Intboduction  of  Pestalozzian  Methods 
Early  beginnings.  Up  to  about  1860  there  had  bqen  no 
general  adoption  in  the  United  States  of  Pestalozzian  ideas 
as  to  instruction,  aside  from  primary  arithmetic,  though 
much  had  been  written  on  his  work  in  Switzerland,  and  the 
various  Reports  by  American  travelers  abroad  had  extolled 
the  Pestalozzian-Prussian  elementary-school  instruction. 
The  introduction  of  Infant  Schools,  after  1818,  had  done 
something  to  bring  about  a  more  rational  conception  as  to 
the  educational  process  (p.  100),  particularly  as  to  teaching 
reading  and  numbers,  and  the  publication  of  Warren  Col- 
burn's  First  Lessons  in  Arithmetic  on  the  Plan  of  Pesta- 
lozziy  in  1821,  had  gradually  substituted  mental  arithmetic 
for  ciphering  sums  in  the  lower  grades  of  our  schools.  The 
new  educational  journals   (p.   260)   and  many  magazine 


ELEMENTARY  EDUCATION  REORGANIZED      295 

articles  had  also  done  much  to  familiarize  schoolmen  with 
the  ideas  and  practices  of  the  Swiss  reformer. 

As  early  as  1839  Henry  Barnard  had  distributed  among 
the  teachers  of  Connecticut  a  pamphlet  on  Pestalozzi,  and 
in  1847  and  1849  he  distributed  two  other  pamphlets  on  his 
work  and  method  of  instruction.  In  Massachusetts,  Pesta- 
lozzian  methods  were  introduced  into  a  few  private  schools, 
and  in  1848  object  teaching  was  introduced  into  the  state 
normal  school  at  Westfield.  From  1848  to  1854  Arnold 
Guyot,  a  Swiss,  was  an  Agent  of  the  Massachusetts  State 
Board  of  Education  and  State  Institute  Lecturer  on  the 
teaching  of  home  and  observational  geography,  and  after 
1852  Hermann  Krtisi,  Jr.,  a  son  of  one  of  Pestalozzi's  teach- 
ers, held  a  similar  position  for  drawing  and  arithmetic.  Still, 
notwithstanding  these  promising  beginnings,  the  work  re- 
mained local  and  exerted  no  real  influence  on  school  prac- 
tice elsewhere,  and  up  to  about  1860  it  may  be  said  that 
Pestalozzian  ideas,  though  adopted  here  and  there,  had  as 
yet  made  no  deep  impression  in  the  United  States. 

Tne  Oswego  Movement  marks  the  real  introduction.  The 
real  introduction  of  Pestalozzian  ideas  and  methods  is  due 
to  the  energy  and  initiative  of  Edward  A.  Sheldon,  of  Os- 
wego, New  York,  and  so  thoroughly  did  he  do  the  work 
that  in  a  few  years  every  one  was  talking  in  terms  of  Pesta- 
lozzian procedure,  and  the  ideas  and  methods  he  introduced 
had  spread  all  over  the  country. 

Mr.  Sheldon  began,  much  as  had  Pestalozzi  himself,  by 
establishing,  in  1848,  a  school  in  Oswego  for  poor  and  neg- 
lected children.  Following  English  terminology  it  was  called 
a  "ragged  school,"  and  was  composed  of  "120  rude  and 
untrained  Irish  boys  and  girls  between  the  ages  of  5  and 
21."  In  1851  Mr.  Sheldon  was  elected  superintendent  of 
the  schools  of  Syracuse,  but  in  1853  was  recalled  to  Oswego 
to  become  its  first  superintendent.  Himself  a  careful  stu- 
dent, familiar  with  the  pedagogical  literature  of  the  day,  he 
soon  eliminated  much  of  the  textbook  memorizing  and  began 
to  give  his  teachers  training  in  teaching  by  better  methods. 


296  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

Somewhere  about  1860  Mr.  Sheldon  saw,  in  the  museum 
at  Toronto,  Canada,  a  full  set  of  the  models,  objects,  method- 
materials,  and  publications  of  the  English  Home  and  Colo- 
nial Infant  Society,  which,  it  will  be  remembered  (p.  270), 
had  adopted  the  formal  type  of  Pestalozzian  work  intro- 
duced into  England  by  the  Mayos.  His  interest  now  fully 
awakened,  he  set  about  reshaping  the  training  of  his  teach- 
ers after  the  plans  of  the  English  Society.  The  necessary 
books  and  apparatus  were  imported  from  England,  in  1860, 
and  the  next  year  the  Board  of  Education  of  Oswego  digni- 
fied the  work  he  was  doing  by  creating  a  city  normal  school 
to  train  teachers  in  the  new  methods  for  the  schools  of  the 
city.  The  Board  also  (1861)  obtained  permission  for  Miss 
Margaret  E.  M.  Jones,  a  teacher  in  the  English  Training 
College  of  the  Society,  to  come  to  Oswego  and  establish  the 
work.  On  her  return  to  England  in  1862,  Hermann  Kriisi, 
Jr.,  who  had  taught  in  the  Home  and  Colonial  Infant  Soci- 
ety Training  College  in  England  for  five  years,  and  who  had 
been  in  the  United  States  for  ten  years,  teaching  in  a  private 
school  and  acting  as  institute  lecturer  on  drawing  and  arith- 
metic for  the  Massachusetts  Board  of  Education,  was  se- 
cured to  continue  the  training  Miss  Jones  had  started. 

The  English  formalized  Pestalozzian  methods  were  soon 
firmly  established  in  the  Oswego  schools,  and  so  well  was 
the  work  there  advertised,  and  so  important  did  the  move- 
ment become,  that  it  for  a  time  completely  overshadowed 
the  Swiss  and  German  type  of  Pestalozzian  instruction 
which  had  been  introduced  into  Massachusetts,  and  here 
and  there  into  schools  in  other  States.  In  1862  a  com- 
mittee of  prominent  educators  accepted  an  invitation  to 
visit  and  examine  the  Oswego  schools,  and  they  made  a  favor- 
able report  on  the  work.  In  1863  Mr.  Sheldon  explained  his 
work  before  the  National  Teachers'  Association.  After  this, 
"object  teaching"  held  a  place  of  first  importance  on  the 
program  of  this  and  other  teachers'  associations  for  at  least 
a  decade.  In  1864  the  National  Teachers'  Association  ap- 
pointed a  committee  to  investigate  the  system,  and  this 


ELEMENTARY  EDUCATION  REORGANIZED      297 

-committee  reported  favorably  the  following  year.  In  1863 
the  State  of  New  York  granted  $3000  a  year  aid  to  the 
Oswego  school,  and  in  1866  took  it  over  as  a  State  Normal 
School. 

Visitors  now  came  in  numbers  to  see  the  new  work,  "oral 
instruction"  and  "object  teaching'*  became  the  great  new 
ideas  in  education,  and  Oswego  teachers  were  sought  by  city 
school  systems  and  new  normal  schools  all  over  the  northern 
part  of  the  United  States.  For  a  decade  and  a  half  Oswego 
was  distinctively  the  training  school  for  normal  school  in- 
structors and  city  school  supervisors,  and  the  "  striking  per- 
sonalities" which  Mr.  Sheldon  gathered  and  held  together 
for  years,  and  the  enthusiasm  for  the  new  work  which  his 
teachers  imparted  to  others,  gave  his  school  a  deserved  na- 
tional reputation.  As  a  recent  writer  has  well  said,  "he 
shaped  a  coherent  course  of  study  and  turned  out  a  large 
group  of  teachers  who  thought  teaching,  on  Oswego  lines, 
the  greatest  thing  in  the  world."  What  the  so-called 
"Oswego  Movement"  in  our  educational  history  really 
meant  may  be  shown  most  easily  by  indicating  the  changes 
in  the  nature  of  instruction  which  came  as  a  result  of  it. 

Oral  and  objective  teaching.  In  the  first  place  it  meant 
a  very  great  change  in  the  character  of  the  teaching  process 
itself.  As  we  have  seen,  colonial  and  early  national  edu- 
cation was  characterized  by  individual  reciting.  The  pupil 
did  his  work  at  his  seat,  and  the  teacher  heard  him  read  or 
looked  over  his  work  or  the  sums  on  his  slate  or  paper.  The 
next  advance  step  was  to  class  organization,  which  we  traced 
in  Chapter  VIII,  but  the  teacher  or  the  assistant  teacher 
still  heard  recitations  from  subject  matter  which  the  chil- 
dren had  learned,  that  is  memorized,  from  a  book.  Many 
of  the  early  geographies  and  histories  had  even  been  con- 
structed on  the  plan  of  the  older  Catechism,  that  is  on  a 
question  and  answer  basis.  The  System  of  Geography  by 
Nathaniel  Dwight,  an  early  and  a  very  popular  book,  illus- 
trates the  plan.  It  was  a  volume  of  215  pages,  beginning 
with  Europe  and  ending  with  America,  and  all  of  the  Cate- 


298  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

chism  type.    The  following,  relating  to  France,  is  illustra- 
tive: 

Q.  What  is  the  situation  and  extent  of  France? 

A.  It  is  situated  between  42  and  51  degrees  of  north  latitude, 

and  between  5  degrees  west  and  8  degrees  of  east  longitude. 

It  is  600  miles  long  and  500  broad. 
Q.  How  is  France  bounded? 
A.  It  is  bounded  by  the  English  Channel  and  the  Netherlands 

on  the  north;  by  Germany,  Switzerland,  and  Italy  on  the 

east;  by  the  Mediterranean  and  the  Pyrenean  Mountains, 

south;  and  by  the  Bay  of  Biscay,  west. 
Q.  How  is  France  divided? 

A.  Into  21  provinces  formerly,  and  lately  into  83  departments. 
Q.  From  what  is  the  name  France  derived? 
A.  It  is  derived  from  a  German  word  signifying  free  men. 

There  was  nothing  for  the  child  to  do  but  memorize  such 
subject-matter,  or  for  the  teacher  but  to  see  that  the  pupils 
knew  the  answers  to  the  questions.  Up  to  the  middle  of  the 
nineteenth  century,  at  least,  and  much  later  in  most  schools, 
the  dominant  characteristic  of  instruction  was  the  recita- 
tion, in  which  the  pupils  merely  recited  what  had  been 
learned  from  their  textbooks.  It  was  school-keeping,  not 
teaching,  that  teachers  were  engaged  in. 

The  Pestalozzian  form  of  instruction,  based  on  sense-per- 
ception, reasoning,  and  individual  judgment,  called  for  a 
complete  change  in  classroom  procedure.  What  Pesta- 
lozzi  tried  most  of  all  to  do  was  to  get  children  to  use  their 
senses  and  their  minds,  to  look  carefully,  to  count,  to  ob- 
serve forms,  to  get,  by  means  of  their  five  important  senses, 
clear  impressions  and  ideas  as  to  objects  and  life  in  the  world 
about  them,  and  then  to  think  over  what  they  had  seen 
and  be  able  to  answer  his  questions,  because  they  had  ob- 
served carefully  and  reasoned  clearly.  Pestalozzi  thus 
clearly  subordinated  the  printed  book  to  the  use  of  the 
child's  senses,  and  the  repetition  of  mere  words  to  clear 
ideas  about  things.  Pestalozzi  thus  became  one  of  the  first 
real  teachers. 


ELEMENTARY  EDUCATION  REORGANIZED      299 

This  was  an  entirely  new  process,  and  for  the  first  time  in 
history  a  real  "technique  of  instruction"  was  now  called  for. 
Dependence  on  the  words  of  the  text  could  no  longer  be  relied 
upon.  The  oral  instruction  of  a  class  group,  using  real  ob- 
jects, called  for  teaching  skill.  The  class  must  be  kept  nat- 
urally interested  and  under  control,  the  essential  elements  to 
be  taught  must  be  kept  clearly  in  the  mind  of  the  teacher,  the 
teacher  must  raise  the  right  kind  of  questions,  in  the  right 
order,  to  carry  the  class  thinking  along  to  the  right  conclu- 
sions, and,  since  so  much  of  this  type  of  instruction  was  not 
down  in  books,  it  called  for  a  much  more  extended  knowl- 
edge of  the  subject  on  the  part  of  the  teacher  than  the  old 
type  of  school-keeping  had  done.  The  teacher  must  now 
both  know  and  be  able  to  organize  and  direct.  Class  lessons 
must  be  thought  out  in  advance,  and  teacher-preparation  in 
itself  meant  a  great  change  in  teaching  procedure.  Eman- 
cipated from  dependence  on  the  words  of  a  text,  and  able, 
to  stand  before  a  class  full  of  a  subject  and  able  to  question 
freely,  teachers  became  conscious  of  a  new  strength  and  a 
professional  skill  unknown  in  the  days  of  textbook  reciting. 
It  is  not  to  be  wondered  that  the  teachers  leaving  Oswego 
went  out  feeling  that  teaching,  by  the  Oswego  methods,  was 
the  greatest  thing  in  the  world. 

Language  instruction.  From  such  teaching  oral  language 
lessons,  once  so  rare  and  now  so  common,  naturally  followed 
as  a  matter  of  course.  Pupils  trained  to  observe  and  think 
naturally  come  to  be  able  to  express.  Boys  and  girls  who 
are  full  of  a  subject  have  little  difficulty  in  telling  what 
they  have  seen  or  know.  Free  exercise  in  oral  expression  — 
oral  language  work  —  thus  entered  the  school.  Pestalozzi 
made  it  one  of  the  great  features  of  his  teaching.  Stowe  and 
Mann  had  called  attention  to  it  as  an  important  element  of 
the  instruction  in  the  Prussian  people's  school.  Some  start 
had  been  made  in  introducing  such  instruction  into  the 
schools  of  Massachusetts,  but  it  was  left  to  Oswego  to  de- 
monstrate clearly  the  importance  of  oral  language  in  the 
instruction  of  children.     Oral  language  work  thus  came  in 


SOO  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

as  a  new  subject  for  instruction  in  the  primary  grades,  and, 
to  a  degree,  oral  and  written  language  work  tended  to  re- 
place the  former  great  emphasis  on  English  grammar  in  the 
upper  grades  of  the  elementary  school. 

From  oral  language  work,  once  made  a  feature  of  instruc- 
tion, the  teaching  of  correct  speech-usage  came  naturally 
to  the  front,  and  usage,  rather  than  learning  the  rules  of 
grammar,  came  to  be  depended  upon  as  the  chief  means  for 
teaching  English.  Virtually  a  new  subject  of  instruction 
was  thus  added  to  the  elementary-school  course  as  a  result 
of  the  oral  and  objective  teaching  introduced  into  our 
schools  between  1860  and  1875. 

Object  teaching  leads  to  elementary  science.  Another 
new  and  most  valuable  subject  of  instruction  also  came  in 
now  as  an  outgrowth  of  oral  and  objective  teaching,  and 
this  was  the  study  of  nature.  The  first  step  in  the  process 
was  the  object-lesson  idea,  popularized  in  England  after 
1830  by  Miss  Mayo's  book,  and  in  this  country  after  1860 
by  the  work  at  Oswego.  Thousands  of  lessons  were  written 
out  on  all  forms  of  natural  objects,  many  far  too  technical 
and  too  scientific  to  be  of  much  interest  or  value  to  children, 
and  these  were  taught  by  the  teachers. 

Under  the  influence  of  William  T.  Harris,  who  became 
superintendent  of  schools  in  St.  Louis  in  1868,  an  important 
change  was  made  from  the  scattered  object  lessons  on  all 
sorts  of  scientific  subjects  to  a  much  more  logically  organized 
study  of  the  different  sciences.  He  published,  in  1871,  an 
extremely  well-organized  course  of  study  for  the  orderly 
study  of  the  different  sciences,  and  one  thoroughly  charac- 
teristic of  his  logical,  metaphysical  mind.  Due  in  part  to 
his  high  standing  as  a  school  superintendent,  and  in  part  to 
his  course  of  study  being  a  marked  improvement  over  the 
English-Oswego  object-lesson  work,  this  type  of  course  of 
study  was  widely  copied,  became  very  popular  in  our  schools 
for  the  next  generation,  and  did  much  to  introduce  science 
instruction  into  our  schools.  Oral  lessons  in  physiology 
were  also  introduced  into  all  the  grades,  and  this  subject, 


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ELEMENTARY  EDUCATION  REORGANIZED      301 

due  to  its  importance,  soon  tended  to  separate  itself  off  as  a 
new  study. 

The  next  step,  and  a  relatively  recent  one,  was  the  develop- 
ment of  the  modern  nature-study  idea.  By  this  is  meant, 
for  the  lower  grades  at  least,  "a  simple  observational  study 
of  common  natural  objects  and  processes  for  the  sake  of 
personal  acquaintance  with  the  things  which  appeal  to  hu- 
man interest  directly,  and  independently  of  relations  to  or- 
ganized science,"  and  to  include  object  lessons,  observation, 
picnics,  stories  told  and  read,  awakening  a  love  of  nature, 
and  finally  a  more  serious  study  of  selected  simple  phases  of 
agriculture,  geology,  and  the  physical  and  biological  sciences. 
Thus,  by  a  process  of  evolution,  we  have  obtained  another 
new  and  very  important  study  —  two,  if  we  count  physi- 
ology and  the  more  recent  development  of  health  instruc- 
tion as  a  separate  subject  —  as  an  outgrowth  of  the  objec- 
tive and  oral  instruction  which  goes  back  in  its  origin  to 
Pestalozzi  and  the  Emile  of  Rousseau. 

Instruction  in  geography  revolutionized.  Oral  and  ob- 
jective teaching  also  led  to  great  changes  in  the  character 
of  instruction  in  geography.  The  old  geography  was  fact- 
geography  —  astronomical,  physical,  natural,  and  political 
—  and  some  of  the  earlier,  briefer  compends,  as  we  have 
pointed  out,  were  of  the  question  and  answer  type.  The 
early  work  by  Morse  fixed  the  type  of  text  and  the  nature 
of  the  instruction.  Definitions,  all  kinds  of  political  and 
statistical  data,  boundaries,  capitals,  products,  exports  and 
imports,  and  similar  more  or  less  useless  information,  filled 
the  texts.  This  was  learned  and  recited  by  the  pupils,  and 
the  teacher's  task  was  to  see  that  it  was  memorized.  Such 
geography  has  been  called  ship-captain  or  mail-clerk  geo- 
graphy. 

Objective  and  oral  teaching,  applied  to  geography,  wrought 
a  vast  change  in  the  character  of  the  instruction.  Following 
Rousseau's  idea  of  "back-to-nature  "  and  Pestalozzi 's  plans 
for  instruction,  the  new  study  of  home  geography  was  de- 
veloped, and  from  the  immediate  surroundings  geographical 


302  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

instruction  was  extended  to  the  region  thereabout.  This 
called  for  observation  out-of-doors,  the  study  of  type  forms, 
and  the  substitution  of  the  physical  and  human  aspects  of 
geography  for  the  political  and  statistical.  The  German, 
Carl  Ritter,  developed  this  new  type  of  geography,  between 
1817  and  1859,  and  especially  home  geography  after  the  ideas 
of  Pestalozzi. 

In  1848  the  Massachusetts  State  Board  of  Education 
brought  to  this  country  a  Swiss  by  the  name  of  Arnold 
Guyot,  who  had  been  a  pupil  under  Ritter,  and  who  for  the 
next  six  years  was  an  institute  lecturer  and  state  inspector 
for  Massachusetts,  and  later  did  similar  work  in  New  Jersey. 
He  addressed  thousands  of  teachers  on  the  needed  reforms 
and  proper  methods,  and  later,  through  his  beautifully  illus- 
trated textbooks  and  a  detailed  method-guide  for  teachers, 
all  published  about  1866,  tended  to  fix  the  new  type  of  in- 
struction among  the  more  progressive  teachers  of  the  time. 
An  Oswego  teacher  helped  him  prepare  his  books,  the  aims 
of  which  he  stated  to  be  "to  fill  the  young  with  vivid  pic- 
tures of  nature  in  such  regions  of  the  globe  as  may  be 
considered  great  geographical  types.,,  The  work  of  Colonel 
Francis  W.  Parker  in  training  teachers,  his  How  to  Teach 
Geography  (1889),  and  the  textbooks  by  Frye  (1895),  con- 
tinued the  work  of  Guyot,  improving  on  it  and  bringing 
geographical  teaching  down  to  its  modern  form.  We  thus 
have  a  direct  line  of  descent  from  Rousseau  through  Pesta- 
lozzi, Ritter,  Guyot,  Parker,  and  Frye  to  modern  practices. 

Mental  arithmetic.  Before  Pestalozzi,  arithmetic  had 
meant  ciphering,  and  either  commercial  counting  or  the 
solution  of  complicated  problems.  Pestalozzi  replaced 
ciphering  with  simple  and  rapid  mental  calculations.  Count- 
ing beans,  boys,  sticks,  lines,  mountain  peaks,  and  holes  in 
the  lace  curtains  or  spots  on  the  wall-paper  of  the  castle, 
formed  the  basis  for  his  arithmetic.  The  number  chart 
shown  here  was  for  long  a  prominent  feature  in  all  Pesta- 
lozzian  schools,  the  purpose  being  to  keep  before  the  pupil's 
perception  the  number  combinations  from  one  to  ten.    Con- 


ELEMENTARY  EDUCATION  REORGANIZED      303 


Crete  number  ideas,  and  not  words  about  numbers,  were 
what  Pestalozzi  was  trying  to  teach.  He  held  that  the 
mental  processes  of  the  pupil  were  the  most  important  part 
of  arithmetical  study,  and  that  the  quickness,  accuracy, 
judging,  and  reasoning  developed  by  such  work  was  of  prime 


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Fia.  55.  A  Pestalozzi  an  Number  Chart 

importance  in  the  education  of  children.  He  accordingly 
discarded  sand-tables,  paper,  and  slates  for  ciphering,  and 
trained  the  pupils  to  solve  mentally  rather  complicated 
problems  with  whole  numbers  and  fractions.  Visitors  to 
his  school  were  astonished  at  the  skill  displayed  by  the 
children  in  the  use  of  the  four  fundamental  operations  in 
arithmetic.  Mental  arithmetic,  being  a  very  practical  sub- 
ject, Pestalozzian  ideas  and  plans  were  soon  adopted  gen- 
erally in  the  schools  of  Switzerland,  Holland,  the  German 
States,  and  England.  After  the  close  of  Pestalozzi's  school 
in  Switzerland,  in  1825,  Reiner,  who  had  taught  arithmetic 
there,  went  to  England  and  became  a  teacher  in  the  Train- 
ing College  of  the  Home  and  Colonial  Infant  Society. 

Pestalozzian  mental  arithmetic  was  the  first  of  the  new 
subjects  to  reach  us,  coming  through  Warren  Colburn's  First 


304         EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

Lessons  in  Arithmetic  on  the  Plan  of  Pestalozzi,  published 
in  Boston,  in  1821.  The  publication  of  this  book  marked 
our  first  adoption  of  Pestalozzian  ideas  in  teaching,  and  was 
the  only  phase  of  Pestalozzianism  to  be  widely  adopted  be- 
fore 1860.  The  book  contained  a  multitude  of  simple  prob- 
lems, to  be  solved  mentally,  and  many  of  these  were  stated 
in  particularly  attractive  form.  The  following  extracts  are 
illustrative : 

How  many  hands  have  a  boy  and  a  clock? 

Four  rivers  ran  through  the  Garden  of  Eden,  and  one  through 
Babylon;  how  many  more  ran  through  Eden  than  Babylon? 

Judas,  one  of  the  twelve  Apostles,  hung  himself;  how  many  were 
left? 

Miss  Fanny  Woodbury  was  born  in  1791,  and  died  in  1814;  Miss 
Hannah  Adams  lived  to  be  53  years  older;  how  old  was  Han- 
nah Adams? 

At  $2.50  a  yard,  what  will  %\  yards  of  cloth  cost? 

This  book  must  be  ranked  with  Webster's  Speller  as  one 
of  the  greatest  American  textbooks.  Mental  arithmetic,  by 
1850,  had  become  one  of  the  most  important  subjects  of  the 
school,  and  everywhere  Colburn's  book  was  in  use.  The 
sale  of  the  book  was  enormous,  and  its  influence  great.  Like 
all  successful  textbooks,  it  set  a  new  standard  and  had  many 
imitators.  One  of  these,  Barnard's  A  Treatise  on  Arith- 
metic, published  at  Hartford,  in  1830,  was  the  first  American 
arithmetic  to  contain  any  pictures  to  aid  beginners  in  mas- 
tering the  subject.  The  following  is  an  illustration  from 
this  book. 

5.  One  stage  has  four  horses.    How  many  horses  have  two 
stages  ? 


6.  Then  2  times  4,  or  twice  4  are  how  many? 

The  Grube  idea.     In  1842  a  German,  by  the  name  of 
Grube,  tried  to  improve  on  the  teaching  of  arithmetic  thus 


ELEMENTARY  EDUCATION  REORGANIZED      805 

developed  by  applying  to  it  another  Pestalozzian  principle, 
namely,  that  of  reducing  each  subject  to  its  elements,  and 
then  making  a  thorough  study  of  each  element  before  pro- 
ceeding to  the  next.  His  idea  had  all  the  characteristics  of 
logical  German  thoroughness,  carried  to  a  typical  German 
extreme.  Fortunately  the  method  was  not  exploited  in  this 
country  until  1870,  when  it  was  explained  in  a  paper  by 
Louis  Soldan,  then  a  teacher  in  St.  Louis,  a  school  system 
then  under  the  leadership  of  Dr.  Harris  and  at  the  front 
in  all  movements  intended  to  improve  instruction.  The 
paper  was  republished  in  many  States,  from  New  England 
to  California,  and  soon  marked  out  a  new  line  for  the  teach- 
ing of  primary  arithmetic.  By  1885  even  the  rural  schools 
of  the  United  States  had  adopted  the  Grube  idea,  and  it  is 
only  since  about  1900  that  we  have  turned  back  once  more 
to  the  better  ideas  of  Pestalozzian  teaching  as  represented 
in  Colburn's  book  and  its  modern  successors. 

The  essential  idea  of  Grube's  method  was  intense  thor- 
oughness in  teaching  every  element.  The  number  one  was 
taught  for  days  before  going  to  number  two,  and  two  in  all 
possible  and  imaginary  combinations  before  taking  up  three, 
and  so  on.  The  entire  first  year  was  devoted  to  teaching 
the  numbers  one  to  ten,  and  the  second  year  the  numbers 
to  one  hundred.  The  method  was  extremely  absurd,  and 
so  clearly  away  from  the  better  teaching  of  Colburn  that 
one  wonders  how  American  teachers  came  to  take  up  so 
completely  the  Grube  idea. 

Writing,  drawing,  and  music.  Grube's  work  in  organ- 
izing a  subject  so  as  to  proceed  by  carefully  graded  stages 
from  the  simplest  element  to  the  more  and  more  complex 
illustrated  another  Pestalozzian  idea,  viz.,  that  the  teaching 
process  could  eventually  be  so  "mechanized"  that  there 
would  be  a  regular  A,  B,  C,  for  each  type  of  instruction, 
which,  once  learned,  would  give  perfection  to  a  teacher. 
This  idea  Pestalozzi  strove,  unsuccessfully,  to  work  out. 
In  reading  it  led  to  the  alphabet-syllable-word  —  A,  B,  C, 
ba,  ca,  ra;  bat,  cat,  rat  —  method  of  teaching,  long  retained 


306 


EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 


by  us,  but  early  discarded  by  the  Germans  for  the  word 
method,  and  now  replaced  in  this  country  by  a  combined 
word  and  sound  method  for  teaching  beginners  to  read.  In 
arithmetic  the  idea  led  eventually  to  the  absurd  Grube 
method.     In  object  lessons  it  led  to  a  detailed  study  and 


Fig.  56.  Early  Spencerian  Writing  Exercises 

(From  Spencerian  Penmanship  No.  4,  Revised.    Copyright.    American  Book  Company, 

publishers.) 

analysis  of  properties  and  characteristics,  and  to  an  absurd 
—  for  children  —  scientific  classification  of  objects. 

When  applied  to  the  new  subjects  of  writing,  drawing,  and 
music,  which  really  came  in  as  elementary  school  subjects 
after  about  1845  in  Massachusetts,  and  more  generally  only 
with  the  Oswego  work  after  1860,  we  get  this  Pestalozzian 


ELEMENTARY  EDUCATION  REORGANIZED     307 

principle  in  its  extreme  form.  For  a  generation  the  teach- 
ing of  these  newer  subjects  was  formal,  mechanical,  lifeless, 
and  largely  ineffective  because  of  the  attempt  to  present  the 
subjects  logically  to  children,  and  to  analyze  each  subject 
into  its  elements.  Before  children  began  really  to  write  they 
were  drilled  on  lines  and  curves  and  angles  and  movements 
until  they  were  thoroughly  tired  of  writing  as  a  subject  be- 
cause it  led  to  so  little  writing.  In  drawing,  year  after  year 
was  spent  in  studying  form,  with  scientific  instruction  as  to 
angles  and  geometrical  figures  and  perspective,  but  without 
reaching  color  and  expression.  In  music,  similarly,  much 
drill  was  put  on  tone  studies,  scales,  and  reading  notes,  but 
without  much  real  singing.  For  a  generation  these  methods 
of  teaching  these  special  subjects,  largely  brought  over  from 
England  at  the  beginnings  of  the  Oswego  Movement,  were 
the  ruling  methods.  Since  about  1900  they  had  been  gen- 
erally abandoned  for  the  far  simpler  and  easier  procedure 
which  leads  earlier  and  more  directly  to  actual  writing  and 
drawing  and  singing,  and  to  a  childish  appreciation  of  the 
value  of  these  special  arts.  The  new  methods  are  far  less 
logical  than  the  earlier  plans,  but  we  have  long  since  learned 
from  a  study  of  the  psychology  of  the  learning  process  that 
children  do  not  think  along  the  same  logical  lines  as  adults. 
History  not  developed  until  later.  History  as  a  subject 
of  study  in  our  elementary  schools  came  in  largely  as  a  by- 
product of  the  Civil  War.  Goodrich's  little  history  had  ap- 
peared as  early  as  1822  (p.  219),  and  Noah  Webster's  History 
of  the  United  States  in  1832.  Before  that  time  such  history 
as  had  been  taught  had  been  brought  in  incidentally  under 
geography  and  in  reading.  Vermont,  in  1827,  was  probably 
the  first  State  to  add  history  to  the  required  list  of  elementary 
school  subjects.  Massachusetts,  the  same  year,  added  the 
subject  for  the  schools  of  the  larger  towns  and  the  cities,  but 
did  not  include  it  for  all  until  1857.  In  most  of  the  older 
Northern  States  history  was  added  to  the  list  of  required 
subjects  shortly  after  the  close  of  the  Civil  War,  though 
many  cities  had  added  it  to  their  course  of  study  at  an 


308  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

earlier  date.  The  purpose  from  the  first  was  to  emphasize 
American  accomplishments,  with  the  chief  stress  on  the 
memorization  of  facts  relating  to  our  national  heroes,  wars, 
and  political  struggles.  The  dominant  purpose  was  the  de- 
velopment of  patriotism  and  an  enthusiasm  for  the  Union. 

Rousseau  had  declared  history  to  be  a  subject  of  no  im- 
portance for  children,  and  Pestalozzi  had  done  practically 
nothing  with  it.  Neither  had  the  followers  of  Pestalozzi 
anywhere,  so  with  the  introduction  of  Pestalozzianism  at 
Oswego  and  elsewhere,  instruction  in  history  was  not  in- 
cluded. It  was  added  generally  about  this  time,  but,  being 
unaffected  by  the  new  Pestalozzian  ideas  as  to  instruction, 
it  began  to  be  taught  by  the  old  memory  methods  of  its  ear- 
lier ancestor,  geography.  The  reorganization  of  history  in- 
struction did  not  come  until  near  the  end  of  the  nineteenth 
century,  under  the  inspiration  of  a  new  German  influence, 
to  be  described  in  the  next  division  of  this  chapter.  The 
reorganization  of  reading,  and  the  creation  of  a  methodology 
for  instruction  in  both  history  and  literature,  also  date  from 
the  coming  of  this  new  influence. 

The  normal  school  finds  its  place.  The~great  change 
which  took  place  in  the  character  of  elementary-school  edu- 
cation between  1850  and  1880  will  now  be  evident.  The 
Civil  War  had  checked  material  development.  As  a  people 
we  had  neither  the  money  nor  the  public  interest  necessary 
to  expand  the  school  system  along  material  lines,  or  to  add 
new  types  of  schools.  In  organization  our  schools  stood 
very  much  in  1880  as  they  had  in  1850,  the  chief  change  be- 
ing that  the  lines  marked  out  as  to  organization  and  grading 
and  supervision  by  the  better  and  more  progressive  city 
school  systems  by  1850  had,  by  1880,  been  extended  to  even 
the  smaller  towns.  Instead,  the  great  educational  develop- 
ment of  these  three  decades  was  within.  New  subjects  of 
study  were  introduced,  the  teaching  of  the  older  ones  was 
revolutionized,  and  a  technique,  a  methodology,  for  instruc- 
tion in  each  subject,  except  history  and  literature,  was 
worked  out.    Where  before  the  ability  to  organize  and  dis- 


ELEMENTARY  EDUCATION  REORGANIZED      309 

cipline  a  school  had  constituted  the  chief  art  of  instruction, 
now  the  ability  to  teach  scientifically  took  its  place  as  the 
prime  professional  requisite.  A  "science  and  art  of  teach- 
ing "  now  arose,  and  the  new  subject  of  Pedagogy  began  to 
take  form  and  secure  recognition. 

The  normal  school  now  found  its  place,  and  Figure  54, 
showing  its  development,  reveals  how  rapidly  the  movement 
to  establish  these  schools  gained  headway  after  about  1865 
for  public  normal  schools,  and  after  about  1870  for  the  pri- 
vate tuition  schools.  The  National  Normal  University,  at 
Lebanon,  Ohio;  the  Valparaiso  Normal  School,  in  Indiana; 
and  the  Northern  Illinois  Normal  School,  at  Dixon,  are  types 
of  dozens  of  such  private  low-tuition  schools,  which  had  thou- 
sands of  students  and  were  good  money-makers  for  their 
owners.  These  illustrate  the  great  interest  awakened  by 
the  work  at  Oswego  and  elsewhere  in  the  effort  to  psycholo- 
gize the  educational  process  and  to  reduce  the  teaching  pro- 
cess to  rule  and  method. 

Psychology  becomes  the  master  science.  The  new  con- 
ception of  the  child  as  a  slowly  developing  personality,  de- 
manding subject-matter  and  method  suited  to  his  stage  of 
development,  and  the  new  conception  of  teaching  as  that 
of  directing  education  instead  of  hearing  recitations  and 
"keeping  school,"  now  replaced  the  earlier  knowledge-con- 
ception of  school  work.  Psychology  soon  became  the 
guiding  science  of  the  school,  and,  imparting  to  would-be 
teachers  the  methodology  of  instruction  in  the  different 
subjects,  the  great  work  of  the  normal  school.  A  little  later, 
in  the  early  nineties,  the  natural  successor  of  this  movement 
—  child  study  —  made  its  appearance,  and  for  a  time  almost 
monopolized  the  educational  field.  It  was  now  sought  to 
ascertain  much  more  fully  how  and  in  what  ways  childish 
personality  developed.  Children  were  observed  and  ques- 
tioned and  tabulated  for  all  sorts  of  traits,  opinions,  and 
information;  the  "questionnaire"  was  used  by  the  child- 
study  enthusiasts  to  gather  all  kinds  of  data,  and  much 
useful  as  well  as  much  worthless  information  was  gathered 


S10 


EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 


as  to  child  nature  and  ideas.  Though  carried  on  in  all  parts 
of  the  United  States,  the  work  of  G.  Stanley  Hall  and  his 
students,  at  Clark  University,  formed  the  leading  center  of 
the  movement. 

The  new  normal-trained  woman  teacher  now  began  to  be 
markedly  in  evidence  and,  after  1880,  the  displacement  of 
men  teachers  was  rapid  in  all  parts  of  the  country.  This 
new  teacher  brought  with  her  to  the  school  a  new  concep- 


Dfecteasing  Percentage  of  Men  Teachena 
1870,1910 


70 


CO 


40 


10 


Fia.  57.  The  Decreasing  Percentage  op  Men  Teachers 


tion  of  childhood,  a  new  and  a  minute  methodology,  and 
a  new  enthusiasm,  all  of  which  were  valuable  additions, 
though  for  a  time  often  carried  to  a  ridiculous  extreme. 
Problems  had  to  be  analyzed  just  so,  pupils  must  answer 
just  so,  and  thinking  must  proceed  in  approved  order  and 
be  stated  in  proper  form.  Each  problem  to  be  solved  must 
first  be  analyzed  in  correct  English  into  a  correct  statement, 
short-cut  though  correct  replies  were  not  allowed,  while  such 
errors  as  the  multiplication  of  children  by  dimes  or  the  di- 
vision of  dollars  by  horses  were  almost  unpardonable.  The 


ELEMENTARY  EDUCATION  REORGANIZED      311 

spirit  of  instruction  was  often  lost  in  a  too  strict  observance 
of  the  form.  These  defects  and  excesses,  almost  always  the 
accompaniment  of  any  new  movement  which  strongly  in- 
fluences the  course  of  educational  development,  in  time 
largely  disappeared,  and  both  methodology  and  child  study 
fell  into  their  proper  places  as  parts,  but  not  the  whole,  of 
the  science  of  education. 

III.  New  Ideas  from  Herbartian  Sources 
Where  Pestalozzi  left  the  educational  problem.  Pesta- 
lozzi  had  done  a  wonderful  work  in  reorganizing  and  redirect- 
ing the  education  of  children,  but  after  all  his  work  had  been 
based  wholly  on  observation  and  experimentation,  and  with- 
out attempting  to  measure  it  up  with  any  guiding  scientific 
principle.  His  unwearied  patience,  his  intense  personal  suf- 
ferings, and  his  self-sacrifice  for  childhood  were  wonderful. 
The  story  of  his  life  forms  one  of  the  most  touching  chapters 
in  the  history  of  education,  and  his  sufferings  and  successes 
gave  reality  to  his  statement  that  after  all  "the  essential 
principle  of  education  is  not  teaching;  it  is  love."  His  elabo- 
ration of  the  thought  of  Rousseau  that  education  was  an 
individual  development,  a  drawing  out  and  not  a  pouring 
in;  that  the  basis  of  all  education  exists  in  the  nature 
of  man;  and  that  the  method  of  education  is  to  be  sought 
and  not  constructed,  were  his  great  contributions.  These 
ideas  led  him  to  emphasize  sense  perception  and  expression; 
to  formulate  the  rule  that  in  teaching  we  must  proceed  from 
the  simple  to  the  complex,  and  from  the  concrete  to  the  ab- 
stract; and  to  construct  a  "faculty  psychology  "  which  con- 
ceived of  education  as  "a  harmonious  development"  of  the 
different  "faculties"  of  the  mind.  It  was  at  this  point  that 
Pestalozzi  left  the  problem,  and  in  this  form  that  we  re- 
ceived it  by  way  of  England  in  the  sixties. 

The  work  of  Herbart.  Taking  up  the  problem  as  Pesta- 
lozzi left  it,  a  German  by  the  name  of  Johann  Friedrich  Her- 
bart (1776-1841)  carried  it  forward  by  organizing  a  truer 
psychology  for  the  whole  educational  process,  by  erecting  a 


312  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

new  aim  in  instruction,  by  formulating  new  steps  in  method, 
and  by  showing  the  place  and  the  importance  of  properly 
organized  instruction  in  history  and  literature  in  the  educa- 
tion of  the  child.  Though  the  two  men  were  entirely  differ- 
ent in  type,  and  worked  along  entirely  different  lines,  the 
connection  between  Herbart  and  Pestalozzi  was,  neverthe- 
less, close.  Herbart  had  visited  Pestalozzi  at  Burgdorf,  in 
1799,  just  after  graduating  from  Jena  and  while  acting  as  a 
tutor  for  three  Swiss  boys,  and  had  written  a  very  sympa- 
thetic description  of  his  school  and  his  theory  of  instruction. 
Herbart  was  one  of  the  first  of  the  Germans  to  understand 
and  appreciate  "the  genial  and  noble  Pestalozzi." 

The  two  men,  however,  approached  the  educational  prob- 
lem from  entirely  different  angles.  Pestalozzi  gave  nearly 
all  his  long  life  to  teaching  and  human  service,  while  Her- 
bart taught  only  as  a  traveling  private  tutor  for  three 
years,  and  later  a  class  of  twenty  children  in  his  university 
practice  school.  Pestalozzi  was  a  social  reformer,  a  vision- 
ary, and  an  impractical  enthusiast,  but  was  possessed  of 
a  remarkable  intuitive  insight  into  child  nature.  Herbart, 
on  the  other  hand,  was  a  well-trained  scholarly  thinker,  who 
spent  the  most  of  his  life  in  the  peaceful  occupation  of  a  pro- 
fessor of  philosophy  in  a  German  university.  The  son  of  a 
well-educated  public  official,  Herbart  was  himself  educated 
at  the  Gymnasium  of  Oldenburg  and  the  University  of  Jena. 
After  spending  three  years  as  a  tutor,  he  became,  at  the  age 
of  twenty-six,  an  under  teacher  at  the  University  of  Got- 
tingen.  At  the  age  of  thirty-three  he  was  called  to  become 
professor  of  philosophy  at  Konigsburg,  and  from  the  age  of 
fifty-seven  to  his  death  at  sixty-five  he  was  again  a  professor 
at  Gottingen.  It  was  while  at  Konigsburg,  between  1810 
and  1832,  and  as  an  appendix  to  his  work  as  professor  of 
philosophy,  that  he  organized  a  small  practice  school,  con- 
ducted a  Pedagogical  Seminar,  and  worked  out  his  educa- 
tional theory  and  method.  His  work  was  a  careful,  scholarly 
attempt  at  the  organization  of  education  as  a  science,  carried 
out  amid  the  peace  and  quiet  which  a  university  atmosphere 


ELEMENTARY  EDUCATION  REORGANIZED     313 

almost  alone  affords.  He  addressed  himself  chiefly  to  three 
things:  (1)  the  aim,  (2)  the  content,  and  (3)  the  method  of 
instruction. 

The  aim  and  the  content  of  education.  Locke  had  set  up 
as  the  aim  of  education  the  ideal  of  a  physically  sound  gen- 
tleman. Rousseau  had  declared  his  aim  to  be  to  prepare 
his  boy  for  life  by  developing  naturally  his  inborn  capacities. 
Pestalozzi  had  sought  to  regenerate  society  by  means  of 
education,  and  to  prepare  children  for  society  by  a  "har- 
monious training"  of  their  "faculties."  Herbart  rejected 
alike  the  conventional-social  education  of  Locke,  the  natural 
and  unsocial  education  of  Rousseau,  and  the  "faculty- 
psychology"  conception  of  education  of  Pestalozzi.  In- 
stead he  conceived  of  the  mind  as  a  unity,  rather  than  di- 
vided into  "faculties,"  and  the  aim  of  education  as  broadly 
social  rather  than  personal.  The  purpose  of  education,  he 
said,  was  to  prepare  men  to  live  properly  in  organized  so- 
ciety, and  hence  the  chief  aim  in  education  was  not  con- 
ventional fitness,  natural  development,  mere  knowledge,  nor 
personal  mental  power,  but  personal  character  and  social 
morality.  This  being  the  case,  the  educator  should  analyze 
the  interests  and  occupations  and  social  responsibilities  of 
men  as  they  are  grouped  in  organized  society,  and,  from  such 
analyses,  deduce  the  means  and  the  method  of  instruction. 
Man's  interests,  he  said,  come  from  two  main  sources  —  his 
contact  with  the  things  in  his  environment  (real  things, 
sense-impressions),  and  from  his  relations  with  human  be- 
ings (social  intercourse).  His  social  responsibilities  and 
duties  are  determined  by  the  nature  of  the  social  organiza- 
tion of  which  he  forms  a  part. 

Pestalozzi  had  provided  fairly  well  for  the  first  group  of 
contacts,  through  his  instruction  in  objects,  home  geography, 
numbers,  and  geometric  form.  For  the  second  group  of  con- 
tacts Pestalozzi  had  developed  only  oral  language,  and  to 
this  Herbart  now  added  the  two  important  studies  of  liter- 
ature and  history,  and  history  with  the  emphasis  on  the 
social  rather  than  the  political  side.    Two  new  elementary 


314  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

school  subjects  were  thus  developed,  each  important  in  re- 
vealing to  man  his  place  in  the  social  whole.  History  in 
particular  Herbart  conceived  to  be  a  study  of  the  first  im- 
portance for  revealing  proper  human  relationships,  and 
leading  men  to  social  and  national  "good-will." 

The  chief  purpose  of  education  Herbart  held  to  be  to  de- 
velop personal  character  and  to  prepare  for  social  usefulness. 
These  virtues,  he  held,  proceeded  from  enough  of  the  right 
kind  of  knowledge,  properly  interpreted  to  the  pupil  so  that 
clear  ideas  as  to  relationships  might  be  formed.  To  impart 
this  knowledge  interest  must  be  awakened,  and  to  arouse 
interest  in  the  many  kinds  of  knowledge  needed,  a  "many- 
sided"  development  must  take  place.  From  full  know- 
ledge, and  with  proper  instruction  by  the  teacher,  clear 
ideas  or  concepts  might  be  formed,  and  clear  ideas  ought  to 
lead  to  right  action,  and  right  action  to  personal  character 
—  the  aim  of  all  instruction.  Herbart  was  the  first  writer 
on  education  to  place  the  great  emphasis  on  proper  instruc- 
tion, and  to  exalt  teaching  and  proper  teaching-procedure 
instead  of  mere  knowledge  or  intellectual  discipline.  He 
thus  conceived  of  the  educational  process  as  a  science  in 
itself,  having  a  definite  content  and  method,  and  worthy  of 
special  study  by  those  who  desire  to  teach. 

Herbartian  method.  With  these  ideas  as  to  the  aim  and 
content  of  instruction,  Herbart  worked  out  a  theory  of  the 
instructional  process  and  a  method  of  instruction.  Interest 
he  held  to  be  of  first  importance  as  a  prerequisite  to  good 
instruction.  If  given  spontaneously,  well  and  good;  but, 
if  necessary,  forced  interest  must  be  resorted  to.  Skill  in 
instruction  is  in  part  to  be  determined  by  the  ability  of  the 
teacher  to  secure  interest  without  resorting  to  force  on  the 
one  hand  or  sugar-coating  of  the  subject  on  the  other. 
Taking  Pestalozzi's  idea  that  the  purpose  of  the  teacher  was 
to  give  pupils  new  experiences  through  contacts  with  real 
things,  without  assuming  that  the  pupils  already  had  such, 
Herbart  elaborated  the  process  by  which  new  knowledge  is 
assimilated  in  terms  of  what  one  already  knows,  and  from 


ELEMENTARY  EDUCATION  REORGANIZED     815 

his  elaboration  of  this  principle  the  doctrine  of  apperception 
—  that  is,  the  apperceiving  or  comprehending  of  new  knowl- 
edge in  terms  of  the  old  —  has  been  fixed  as  an  important 
principle  in  educational  psychology.  Good  instruction, 
then,  involves  first  putting  the  child  into  a  proper  frame 
of  mind  to  apperceive  the  new  knowledge,  and  hence  this 
becomes  a  corner  stone  of  all  good  teaching  method. 

Herbart  did  not  always  rely  on  such  methods,  holding 
that  the  "committing  to  memory"  of  certain  necessary  facts 
often  was  necessary,  but  he  held  that  the  mere  memorizing 
of  isolated  facts,  which  had  characterized  school  instruc- 
tion for  ages,  had  little  value  for  either  educational  or  moral 
ends.  The  teaching  of  mere  facts  often  was  very  necessary, 
but  such  instruction  called  for  a  methodical  organization  of 
the  facts  by  the  teacher,  so  as  to  make  their  learning  con- 
tribute to  some  definite  purpose.  This  called  for  a  purpose 
in  instruction ;  the  organization  of  the  facts  necessary  to  be 
taught  so  as  to  select  the  most  useful  ones;  the  connection 
of  these  so  as  to  establish  the  principle  which  was  the  pur- 
pose of  the  instruction;  and  training  in  systematic  think- 
ing by  applying  the  principle  to  new  problems  of  the  type 
being  studied.  The  carrying  out  of  such  ideas  meant  the 
careful  organization  of  the  teaching  process  and  teaching 
method,  to  secure  certain  predetermined  ends  in  child  de- 
velopment, instead  of  mere  miscellaneous  memorizing  and 
school-keeping. 

The  Herbartian  movement  in  Germany.  Herbart  died 
in  1841,  without  having  awakened  any  general  interest  in 
his  ideas,  and  they  remained  virtually  unnoticed  until  1865. 
In  that  year  a  professor  at  Leipzig,  Tuiskon  Ziller  (1817- 
1883),  published  a  book  setting  forth  Herbart's  idea  of  in- 
struction as  a  moral  force.  This  attracted  much  attention, 
and  led  to  the  formation  (1868)  of  a  scientific  society  for 
the  study  of  Herbart's  ideas.  Ziller  and  his  followers  now 
elaborated  Herbart's  ideas,  advanced  the  theory  of  culture- 
epochs  in  child  development,  the  theory  of  concentration 
in  studies,  and  elaborated  the  four  steps  in  the  process  of 


316         EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

instruction,  as  described  by  Herbart,  into  the  five  formal 
steps  of  the  modern  Herbartian  school. 

In  1874  a  pedagogical  seminary  and  practice  school  was 
organized  at  the  University  of  Jena,  and  in  1885  this  came 
under  the  direction  of  Professor  William  Rein,  a  pupil  of 
Ziller's,  who  developed  the  practice  school  according  to  the 
ideas  of  Ziller.  A  detailed  course  of  study  for  this  school, 
filling  two  large  volumes,  was  worked  out,  and  the  practice 
lessons  given  were  thoroughly  planned  beforehand  and  the 
methods  employed  were  subjected  to  a  searching  analysis 
after  the  lesson  had  been  given. 

Herbartian  ideas  reach  the  United  States.  Between  1885 
and  1890  a  number  of  Americans,  many  of  them  graduates 
of  the  state  normal  school  at  Normal,  Illinois,  studied  in 
Jena,  and  returning  brought  back  to  the  United  States  this 
Ziller-Rein-Jena  brand  of  Herbartian  ideas  and  practices. 
Charles  De  Garmo's  Essentials  of  Methods,  published  in 
1889,  marked  the  beginning  of  the  introduction  of  these 
ideas  into  this  country.  In  1892  Charles  A.  McMurry  pub- 
lished his  General  Method,  and  in  1897,  with  his  brother, 
Frank,  published  the  Method  in  the  Recitation.  These  three 
books  probably  have  done  more  to  popularize  Herbartian 
ideas  and  introduce  them  into  the  normal  schools  and  col- 
leges of  the  United  States  than  all  other  influences  com- 
bined. Another  important  influence  was  the  "National 
Herbart  Society,"  founded  in  1892  by  students  returning 
from  Jena,  in  imitation  of  the  similar  German  society.  For 
the  first  few  years  of  its  existence  its  publications  were  de- 
voted to  a  discussion  of  interest,  apperception,  correlation, 
recitation  methods,  moral  education,  the  culture-epoch 
theory,  training  for  citizenship,  the  social  function  of  history 
and  geography,  and  similar  subjects.  This  Society  is  still 
rendering  good  service  under  the  name  of  the  "National 
Society  for  the  Study  of  Education,"  though  its  earlier  Her- 
bartian character  now  has  disappeared. 

Herbartian  ideas  took  like  wildfire  over  the  United  States, 
but  particularly  in  the  normal  schools  of  the  Upper  Missis- 


ELEMENTARY  EDUCATION  REORGANIZED      317 

sippi  Valley.  Methods  of  instruction  in  history  and  litera- 
ture, and  a  new  psychology,  were  now  added  to  the  normal 
school  professional  instruction.  New  courses  of  study  for 
the  training  schools  were  now  worked  out,  in  which  the  ele- 
mentary school  subjects  were  divided  into  drill  subjects, 
content  subjects,  and  motor-activity  subjects.  Appercep- 
tion, correlation,  social  purpose,  moral  education,  and  reci- 
tation methods  became  new  words  to  conjure  with.  From 
the  normal  schools  these  ideas  spread  rapidly  to  the  better 
city  school  systems  of  the  time,  and  soon  found  their  way 
into  courses  of  study  everywhere.  Practice  schools  and  the 
model  lessons  in  dozens  of  normal  schools  were  remodeled 
after  the  pattern  of  those  at  Jena,  and  for  a  decade  Herbar- 
tian  ideas  and  child  study  vied  with  one  another  for  the 
place  of  first  importance  in  educational  thinking.  The  Her- 
bartian  wave  of  the  nineties  resembled  the  Pestalozzian 
enthusiasm  of  the  sixties.  Each  for  a  time  furnished  the 
new  ideas  in  education,  each  introduced  elements  of  impor- 
tance into  our  elementary-school  instruction,  each  deeply 
influenced  the  training  of  teachers  in  our  normal  schools  by 
giving  a  new  turn  to  the  instruction  there,  and  each  gradu- 
ally settled  down  into  its  proper  place  in  our  educational 
practice  and  history. 

To  the  Herbartians  we  are  indebted  in  particular  for  im- 
portant new  conceptions  as  to  the  teaching  of  history  and 
literature,  which  have  modified  all  our  subsequent  proce- 
dure ;  for  the  introduction  of  history  teaching  in  some  form 
into  all  the  elementary-school  grades;  for  the  emphasis  on  a 
new  social  point  of  view  in  the  teaching  of  history  and  geog- 
raphy; the  emphasis  on  the  moral  aim  in  instruction;  a  new 
and  a  truer  educational  psychology;  and  a  better  organiza- 
tion of  the  technique  of  classroom  instruction.  With  the 
introduction  of  normal  child  activities,  which  came  from 
another  source  about  this  same  time,  our  elementary  school 
curriculum  as  we  now  have  it  was  practically  complete,  and 
the  elementary  school  of  1850  had  been  completely  made 
over  to  form  the  elementary  school  of  1900. 


318  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

IV.  The  Kindergarten,  Play,  and  Manual  Activities 

To  another  German,  Friedrich  Froebel,  we  are  indebted, 
directly  or  indirectly,  for  three  other  additions  to  elemen- 
tary education  —  the  kindergarten,  the  play  idea,  and  hand- 
work activities. 

Origin  of  the  kindergarten.  Of  German  parentage,  the 
son  of  a  rural  clergyman,  early  estranged  from  his  parents, 
retiring  and  introspective  by  nature,  having  led  a  most  un- 
happy childhood,  and  apprenticed  to  a  forester  without  his 
wishes  being  consulted,  at  twenty-three  Froebel  decided  to 
become  a  school  teacher  and  visited  Pestalozzi  in  Switzer- 
land. Two  years  later  he  became  the  tutor  of  three  boys, 
and  then  spent  the  years  1808-10  as  a  student  and  teacher  in 
Pestalozzi's  institute  at  Yverdon.  During  his  years  there 
Froebel  was  deeply  impressed  with  the  great  value  of  music 
and  play  in  the  education  of  children,  and  of  all  that  he  car- 
ried away  from  Pestalozzi's  institution  these  ideas  were  most 
persistent.  After  serving  in  a  variety  of  occupations  — 
student,  soldier  against  Napoleon,  and  curator  in  a  museum 
of  mineralogy  —  he  finally  opened  a  little  private  school,  in 
1816,  which  he  conducted  for  a  decade  along  Pestalozzian 
lines.  In  this  the  play  idea,  music,  and  the  self -activity  of 
the  pupils  were  uppermost.  The  school  was  a  failure,  finan- 
cially, but  while  conducting  it  Froebel  thought  out  and 
published  (1826)  his  most  important  pedagogical  work  — 
The  Education  of  Man. 

Gradually  Froebel  became  convinced  that  the  most 
needed  reform  in  education  concerned  the  early  years  of 
childhood.  His  own  youth  had  been  most  unhappy,  and  to 
this  phase  of  education  he  now  addressed  himself.  After  a 
period  as  a  teacher  in  Switzerland  he  returned  to  Germany 
and  opened  a  school  for  little  children  in  which  plays,  games, 
songs,  and  occupations  involving  self-activity  were  the 
dominating  characteristics,  and  in  1840  he  hit  upon  the  name 
Kindergarten  for  it.  In  1843  his  Mutter-  und  Kose-Lieder, 
a  book  of  fifty  songs  and  games,  was  published. 


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ELEMENTARY  EDUCATION  REORGANIZED      319 

Spread  of  the  kindergarten  idea.  After  a  series  of  un- 
successful efforts  to  bring  his  new  idea  to  the  attention  of 
educators,  Froebel,  himself  a  rather  feminine  type,  became 
discouraged  and  resolved  to  address  himself  henceforth  to 
women,  as  they  seemed  much  more  capable  of  understand- 
ing him,  and  to  the  training  of  teachers  in  the  new  ideas. 
Froebel  was  fortunate  in  securing  as  one  of  his  most  ardent 
disciples,  just  before  his  death,  the  Baroness  Bertha  von 
Marenholtz  Btilow-Wendhausen  (1810-93),  who  did  more 
than  any  other  person  to  make  his  work  known.  Meeting, 
in  1849,  the  man  mentioned  to  her  as  "an  old  fool,"  she  un- 
derstood him,  and  spent  the  remainder  of  her  life  in  bringing 
to  the  attention  of  the  world  the  work  of  this  unworldly  man 
who  did  not  know  how  to  make  it  known  for  himself.  In 
1851  the  Prussian  Government,  f easing  some  revolutionary 
designs  in  the  new  idea,  forbade  kindergartens  in  Prussia,  so 
the  Baroness  went  to  London  and  lectured  there  on  Froe- 
bel's  ideas,  organizing  kindergartens  in  the  English  "ragged 
schools."  She  later  expounded  Froebelian  ideas  in  Paris, 
Italy,  Switzerland,  Holland,  Belgium,  and  (after  1860,  when 
the  prohibition  was  removed)  in  Germany.  In  1870  she 
founded  a  kindergarten  training  college  in  Dresden.  Many 
of  her  writings  have  been  translated  into  English,  and  pub- 
lished in  the  United  States. 

In  this  country  the  kindergarten  idea  has  met  with  a  cor- 
dial reception.  The  first  kindergarten  in  the  United  States 
was  a  German  kindergarten,  established  at  Watertown, 
Wisconsin,  in  1855,  by  Mrs.  Carl  Schurz,  a  pupil  of  Froebel. 
During  the  next  fifteen  years  some  ten  other  kindergartens 
were  organized  in  German-speaking  communities.  The 
first  English-speaking  kindergarten  was  opened  privately  in 
Boston,  in  1860,  by  Miss  Elizabeth  Peabody.  In  1868  a 
private  training  school  for  kindergartners  was  opened  in 
Boston,  largely  through  Miss  Peabody's  influence,  by  Ma- 
dame Matilde  Kriege  and  her  daughter,  who  had  recently 
arrived  from  Germany.  In  1872  Miss  Marie  Boelte  opened 
a  similar  teacher- training  school  in  New  York  City,  and  in 


320  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

1873  her  pupil,  Miss  Susan  Blow,  accepted  the  invitation 
of  Superintendent  William  T.  Harris,  of  St.  Louis,  to  go  there 
and  open  the  first  public  school  kindergarten  in  the  United 
States.  St.  Louis,  then  perhaps  the  most  prominent  city 
school  system  in  the  country,  soon  became  a  center  from 
which  public  kindergarten  ideas  were  diffused.  The  first 
kindergarten  in  Chicago  was  opened  in  1874,  and  by  1880 
some  300  kindergartens  and  10  kindergarten  training 
schools,  mostly  private  undertakings,  had  been  opened  in 
the  cities  of  thirty  of  the  States  of  the  Union.  By  1890 
philanthropic  kindergarten  associations  to  provide  and  sup- 
port kindergartens  had  been  organized  in  most  of  the  larger 
cities,  and  after  that  date  our  city  schools  rapidly  began  to 
adopt  the  kindergarten  as  a  part  of  the  public  school  system, 
and  thus  add,  at  the  bottom,  one  more  rung  to  our  educa- 
tional ladder.  To-day  there  are  approximately  9000  public 
and  1500  private  kindergartens  in  the  cities  of  the  United 
States,  and  training  in  kindergarten  principles  and  practices 
is  now  given  by  many  of  our  state  normal  schools. 

The  kindergarten  idea.  The  dominant  idea  in  the  kin- 
dergarten is  natural  but  directed  self -activity,  focused  upon 
educational,  social,  and  moral  ends.  Froebel  believed  in  the 
continuity  of  a  child's  life  from  infancy  onward,  and  that 
self -activity,  determined  by  the  child's  interests  and  desires 
and  intelligently  directed,  was  essential  to  the  unfolding  of 
the  child's  inborn  capacities.  He  saw,  more  clearly  than 
any  one  before  him  had  done,  the  unutilized  wealth  of  the 
child's  world,  that  the  child's  chief  characteristic  is  self -ac- 
tivity, the  desirability  of  the  child  finding  himself  through 
play,  and  that  the  work  of  the  school  during  these  early  years 
was  to  supplement  the  family  by  drawing  out  the  child  and 
awakening  the  ideal  side  of  his  nature.  To  these  ends  doing, 
self-activity,  and  expression  became  fundamental  to  the 
kindergarten,  and  movement,  gesture,  directed  play,  song, 
color,  the  story,  and  the  human  activities  a  part  of  kinder- 
garten technique.  Nature  study  and  school  gardening  were 
given  a  prominent  place,  and  motor  activity  much  called 


ELEMENTARY  EDUCATION  REORGANIZED     S£l 

into  play.  Advancing  far  beyond  Pestalozzi's  principle  of 
sense  impressions,  which,  and  as  we  have  seen  under  object 
lessons,  was  largely  passive  learning,  Froebel  insisted  on 
motor  activity  and  learning  by  doing. 

Froebel,  as  well  as  Herbart,  also  saw  the  social  importance 
of  education,  and  that  man  must  realize  himself  not  inde- 
pendently amid  nature,  as  Rousseau  had  said,  but  as  a 
social  animal  in  cooperation  with  his  fellowmen.  Hence  he 
made  his  schoolroom  a  miniature  of  society,  a  place  where 
courtesy  and  helpfulness  and  social  cooperation  were  promi- 
nent features.  This  social  and  at  times  reverent  atmosphere 
of  the  kindergarten  has  always  been  a  marked  characteris- 
tic of  its  work.  To  bring  out  social  ideas  many  dramatic 
games,  such  as  shoemaker,  carpenter,  smith,  and  farmer, 
were  devised  and  set  to  music.  The  "story"  by  the  teacher 
was  made  prominent,  and  this  was  retold  in  language,  acted, 
sung,  and  often  worked  out  constructively  in  clay,  blocks,  or 
paper.  Other  games  to  develop  skill  were  worked  out,  and 
use  was  made  of  sand,  clay,  paper,  cardboard,  and  color. 
The  "gifts"  and  "occupations"  which  Froebel  devised  were 
intended  to  develop  constructive  and  aesthetic  power,  and 
to  provide  for  connection  and  development  they  were  ar- 
ranged into  an  organized  series  of  playthings.  Individual 
development  as  its  aim,  motor  expression  as  its  method,  and 
social  cooperation  as  its  means  were  the  characteristic  ideas 
of  this  new  school  for  little  children. 

Since  Froebers  day  we  have  learned  much  about  children 
that  was  then  unknown,  especially  as  to  the  muscular  and 
nervous  organization  and  development  of  children,  and 
with  this  new  knowledge  the  tendency  has  been  to  enlarge 
the  "gifts"  and  change  their  nature,  to  introduce  new  "occu- 
pations," elaborate  the  kindergarten  program  of  daily  exer- 
cises, and  to  give  the  kindergarten  more  of  an  out-of-door 
character. 

The  Montessori  method.  Another  recent  development 
of  the  kindergarten  idea,  which  a  decade  ago  created  quite 
a  furore  in  many  countries,  is  the  scheme  of  child-training 


S3£         EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

devised  by  Madame  Maria  Montessori,  at  Rome.  Many 
Montessori  schools  have  been  opened  in  the  United  States, 
and  the  method  has  been  heralded  as  a  great  improvement 
over  the  kindergarten.  A  more  critical  examination  of  her 
ideas  has  led,  however,  to  their  somewhat  general  rejection 
by  most  American  educators,  and  it  is  probable  that  a  decade 
hence  Montessori  schools  will  have  largely  disappeared  as  a 
school  for  normal-minded  children.  Based  on  an  outgrown 
faculty  psychology,  a  psychologically  unsound  plan  for  sense 
training,  and  involving  a  too  early  start  in  the  formal  arts  of 
learning,  the  method  has  been  generally  decided  to  be  dis- 
tinctly inferior  to  the  modern  Americanized  kindergarten. 
Its  best  features  have  been  drawn  from  the  work  of  Seguin, 
Madame  Montessori  herself  having  been  a  teacher  of  de- 
fectives at  Rome,  and  the  method  has  its  greatest  value  for 
subnormal  children. 

The  contribution  of  the  kindergarten.  Wholly  aside  from 
the  specific  training  given  children  during  the  year,  year 
and  a  half,  or  two  years  of  training,  the  addition  of  the  kin- 
dergarten to  our  American  education  has  been  a  force  of  very 
large  significance  and  usefulness.  The  idea  that  the  child  is 
primarily  an  active  and  not  a  learning  animal  has  been  given 
new  emphasis,  and  that  education  comes  chiefly  by  doing 
has  been  given  new  force.  The  idea  that  a  child's  chief 
business  is  play,  so  different  from  our  early  Calvinistic 
conception,  has  been  of  large  educational  value.  The  elim- 
ination of  book  education  and  harsh  discipline  in  the  kin- 
dergarten has  been  an  idea  that  has  slowly  but  gradually 
extended  upward  into  the  lower  grades  of  the  elementary 
school.  The  play  and  game  idea  brought  in  by  the  kinder- 
garten has  also  been  exceedingly  useful  in  slowly  changing 
the  character  of  the  physical  training  exercises  of  the  upper 
grades  and  of  the  high  school  from  the  stiff  Turnen  and  mili- 
tary type  of  bodily  exercises,  brought  in  by  the  Germans 
after  their  great  migration  to  America  began,  to  the  free 
play  and  competitive  games  which  we  now  have  quite  gen- 
erally developed. 


ELEMENTARY  EDUCATION  REORGANIZED     323 

To-day,  largely  as  a  result  of  the  spreading  of  the  kinder- 
garten spirit,  we  are  coming  to  recognize  play  and  games  at 
something  like  their  real  social,  moral,  and  educational 
values,  wholly  aside  from  their  benefits  as  concern  physical 
welfare,  and  to  schedule  play  as  a  regular  subject  in  our 
school  programs.  Music,  too,  has  attained  new  emphasis 
since  the  coming  of  the  kindergarten,  and  methods  of  teach- 
ing music  more  in  harmony  with  kindergarten  ideas  have 
been  introduced  into  the  upper  grades  of  our  schools. 

Instruction  in  the  manual  activities.  Froebel  not  only 
introduced  constructive  work  —  paper  folding,  weaving, 
needlework,  and  work  with  sand  and  clay  and  color  —  into 
the  kindergarten,  but  he  also  proposed  to  extend  and  de- 
velop such  work  for  the  upper  years  of  schooling  in  a  school 
for  hand  training,  which  he  outlined  but  did  not  establish. 
His  proposed  plan  included  the  elements  of  the  so-called 
manual-training  idea,  developed  later,  and  he  justified  such 
instruction  on  the  same  educational  grounds  that  we  ad- 
vance to-day.  It  was  not  to  teach  a  boy  a  trade,  as  Rous- 
seau had  advocated,  or  to  train  children  in  sense-perception, 
as  Pestalozzi  had  employed  all  his  manual  activities,  but  as 
a  form  of  educational  expression,  and  for  the  purpose  of 
developing  creative  power  within  the  child.  The  idea  was 
advocated  by  a  number  of  thinkers,  about  1850  to  1860, 
but  the  movement  finally  took  its  rise  in  Finland,  Sweden, 
and  Russia. 

The  first  country  to  organize  such  work  as  a  part  of  its 
school  instruction  was  Finland,  where,  as  early  as  1858, 
Uno  Cygnaeus  (1810-88)  outlined  a  course  for  manual 
training  involving  bench  and  metal  work,  wood-carving,  and 
basket-weaving.  In  1866  Finland  made  some  form  of  man- 
ual work  compulsory  for  boys  in  all  its  rural  schools,  and  in 
its  training  colleges  for  male  teachers.  In  1872  the  govern- 
ment of  Sweden  decided  to  introduce  sloyd  work  into  its 
schools,  partly  to  counteract  the  bad  physical  and  moral 
effects  of  city  congestion,  and  partly  to  revivify  the  declin- 
ing home  industries  of  the  people.    A  sloyd  school  was  es- 


524  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

tablished  at  Nas,  in  1872,  to  train  teachers,  and  in  this  a  few 
of  our  early  manual  training  teachers  studied.  In  1877  the 
work  was  added  to  the  Folk  School  instruction  of  Sweden. 
At  first  the  old  native  sloyd  occupations  were  followed,  such 
as  carpentering,  turning,  wood-carving,  brush-making,  book- 
binding, and  work  in  copper  and  iron,  but  later  the  indus- 
trial element  gave  way  to  a  well-organized  course  in  edu- 
cational tool  work  for  boys  from  twelve  to  fifteen  years  of 
age,  after  the  Finnish  plan. 

Manual  training  reaches  the  United  States.  The  first 
introduction  of  the  United  States  to  this  new  form  of  instruc- 
tion came  through  the  exhibit  made  by  the  Russian  Govern- 
ment, at  the  Centennial  Exhibition  in  1876,  of  the  work  in 
wood  and  iron  done  by  the  pupils  at  the  Imperial  Technical 
School  at  St.  Petersburg.  This  was  a  type  of  work  espe- 
cially adapted  to  secondary  school  instruction.  The  St. 
Louis  Manual  Training  High  School,  founded  in  1880  in 
connection  with  Washington  University,  first  gave  expres- 
sion to  this  new  form  of  education,  and  formed  a  type  for 
the  organization  of  such  schools  elsewhere.  Privately  sup- 
ported schools  of  this  type  were  organized  in  Chicago, 
Toledo,  Cincinnati,  and  Cleveland  before  1886,  and  the  first 
public  manual-training  high  schools  were  established  in  Bal- 
timore in  1884,  Philadelphia  in  1885,  and  Omaha  in  1886. 
The  shopwork,  based  for  long  on  the  "Russian  system,"  in- 
cluded wood-turning,  joinery,  pattern-making,  forging, 
foundry  and  machine  work.  The  first  high  school  to  pro- 
vide sewing,  cooking,  dressmaking,  and  millinery  for  girls 
was  the  one  at  Toledo,  established  in  1886,  though  private 
classes  had  been  organized  earlier  in  a  number  of  cities. 
This  type  of  high  school  has  developed  rapidly  with  us,  and 
to-day  the  tendency  is  strong  to  introduce  such  courses  into 
all  our  high  schools. 

The  introduction  of  manual  work  into  the  elementary 
schools  came  a  little  later  and  a  little  more  slowly,  but  now  is 
very  general.  As  early  as  1880  the  Workingmen's  School, 
founded  by  the  Ethical  Culture  Society  of  New  York,  had 


ELEMENTARY  EDUCATION  REORGANIZED     325 


provided  a  kindergarten  and  had  extended  the  kindergarten 
constructive-work  idea  upward,  in  the  form  of  simple  wood- 
working, into  its  elementary  school.  In  the  public  schools, 
experimental  classes  in  elementary  school  woodworking  were 
tried  in  one  school  in  Boston,  as  early  as  1882,  the  expense 
being  borne  by  Mrs.  Quincy  A.  Shaw.  In  1888  the  city  took 
over  these  classes.  In  1886  Mr.  Gustav  Larson  was  brought 
to  Boston  from  Sweden  to  introduce  Swedish  sloyd,  and  a 
teacher-training  school  which  has  been  very  influential 
was  established  there 
in  1889.  In  1876  Mas- 
sachusetts permitted 
cities  to  provide  in- 
struction in  sewing, 
and  Springfield  intro- 
duced such  instruction 
in  1884,  and  element- 
ary school  instruction 
in  knifework  in  1886. 
In  1882  Montclair, 
New  Jersey,  introduced 
manual  training  into 
its  elementary  schools, 
and  in  1885  the  State 
of  New  Jersey  first 
offered  state  aid  to  in- 
duce the  extension  of 
the  idea.  In  1885  Phil- 
adelphia added  cook- 
ing and  sewing  to  its 
elementary  schools,  having  done  so  in  the  girls'  high  school 
five  years  earlier.  In  1888  the  City  of  New  York  added 
drawing,  sewing,  cooking,  and  woodworking  to  its  element- 
ary school  course  of  study.  By  1890  approximately  forty 
cities,  nearly  all  of  them  in  the  North  Atlantic  group  of 
States,  had  introduced  work  in  manual  training  into  their 
elementary  schools,  and  from  these  beginnings  the  move- 


Fig.  58.  Redirected  Manual  Training 

A  boy  at  Portland,  Oregon,  mending  bis  shoe,  instead 
of  making  a  mortise-joint. 


$Z6         EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

ment  has  extended  to  practically  all  cities  and  to  many 
towns  and  rural  communities. 

From  about  1885  to  1888  the  manual-training  idea  was 
under  heavy  fire,  the  papers  at  the  meeting  of  the  Depart- 
ment of  Superintendence  of  the  National  Education  Asso- 
ciation, in  1887  and  1888,  being  a  culmination  of  the  discus- 
sion. The  new  work  was  then  advocated  on  the  grounds  of 
formal  discipline  —  that  it  trained  the  reasoning,  exercised 
the  powers  of  observation,  and  strengthened  the  will.  The 
"exercises,"  true  to  such  a  conception,  were  formal  and  uni- 
form for  all.  With  the  breakdown  of  the  "faculty  psy- 
chology," and  the  abandonment  in  large  part  of  the  doctrine 
of  formal  discipline  in  the  training  of  the  mind,  the  whole 
manual-training  work  has  had  to  be  reshaped.  As  the  writ- 
ings of  Pestalozzi,  Herbart,  and  Froebel  were  studied  more 
closely,  and  with  the  new  light  on  child  development  gained 
from  child-study  and  the  newer  psychology,  manual  train- 
ing came  to  be  conceived  of  in  its  proper  light  as  a  means  of 
individual  expression,  and  to  be  extended  to  new  forms, 
materials,  colors,  and  new  practical  and  artistic  ends.  To- 
day the  instruction  in  manual  work  in  all  its  forms  has  been 
further  changed  to  make  it  an  educational  instrument  for 
interpreting  the  fields  of  art  and  industry  in  terms  of  their 
social  significance  and  usefulness. 

The  elementary  school  now  reorganized  and  complete. 
Excepting  instruction  in  agriculture,  which  came  in  recently 
as  an  outgrowth  of  nature  study,  and  in  response  to  an  eco- 
nomic demand,  the  elementary  course  of  study  of  1900  con- 
tained all  the  elements  of  this  course  to-day.  The  changes 
and  additions,  and  the  variations  in  relative  emphasis  and 
in  teachers'  methods  in  each  subject,  are  shown  in  the  chart 
opposite.  It  was  a  vastly  changed  course  of  study,  though, 
from  that  of  1850,  both  as  to  content  and  methods.  The 
beginning  of  these  changes  goes  back  to  the  work  of  Pesta- 
lozzi, though  his  contributions  and  those  of  Herbart,  Froebel, 
and  their  disciples  and  followers  are  so  interwoven  in  the 
educational  practice  of  to-day  that  it  is  in  most  cases  impos- 


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328  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

sible  to  trace  them  or  separate  them  out  one  from  the  other. 
Our  elementary  school  instruction  of  to-day  remains,  as  be- 
fore, a  sturdy  native  development,  but  deeply  influenced, 
since  1860,  by  the  best  ideas  of  the  great  European  theorists 
and  reformers. 

In  the  great  reorganization  and  redirection  of  elementary 
education,  which  took  place  between  1860  and  1900,  prob- 
ably no  American  was  more  influential  than  Colonel  Francis 
W.  Parker  (1837-1902).  After  some  years  in  teaching,  he 
spent  the  years  1872  to  1875  in  study  in  Germany.  On  his 
return  he  was  superintendent  of  schools  at  Quincy,  Massa- 
chusetts, from  1875  to  1880,  and  from  1883  to  1899  was 
principal  of  the  Cook  County  Normal  School,  at  Chicago. 
It  was  he  who  introduced  Germanized  Pestalozzian-Ritter 
methods  of  teaching  geography;  he  who  strongly  advocated 
the  Herbartian  plan  for  concentration  of  instruction  about 
a  central  core,  which  he  worked  out  for  geography;  he  who 
insisted  so  strongly  on  the  Froebelian  principle  of  self-ex- 
pression as  the  best  way  to  develop  the  thinking  process; 
and  he  who  saw  educational  problems  so  clearly  from  the 
standpoint  of  the  child  that  he,  and  the  pupils  he  trained, 
did  much  to  bring  about  the  reorganization  in  elementary 
education  which  had  been  worked  out  by  1900.  Since  that 
time  the  most  influential  constructive  critic  has  been  Pro- 
fessor John  Dewey,  to  whom  we  shall  refer  a  little  later  on. 

QUESTIONS  FOR  DISCUSSION 

1.  How  do  you  explain  the  long-continued  objection  to  teacher-train- 
ing? 

2.  Contrast  the  early  New  York  academy  plan  and  the  Massachusetts 
state  school  plan  for  training  teachers. 

8.  Why  is  it  probable  that  the  state  normal  school  could  hardly  have 
arisen,  at  the  time  it  did,  in  any  other  State  than  Massachusetts? 

4.  How  do  you  explain  the  large  and  immediate  success  of  Mr.  Sheldon? 

5.  Contrast  "oral  and  objective  teaching"  with  the  former  "individual 
instruction." 

6.  Show  how  complete  a  change  in  classroom  procedure  this  involved. 

7.  Show  how  Pestalozzian  ideas  necessitated  a  "technique  of  instruc- 
tion." 


ELEMENTARY  EDUCATION  REORGANIZED     329 

8.  Why  is  it  that  Pestalozzian  ideas  as  to  language  and  arithmetic  in- 
struction have  so  slowly  influenced  the  teaching  of  grammar,  language, 
and  arithmetic? 

9.  How  do  you  explain  the  decline  in  importance  of  the  once-popular 
mental  arithmetic? 

10.  Show  why  the  Grube  idea  as  to  number-teaching  was  absurd. 

11.  How  do  you  explain  the  small  interest  in  United  States  history  until 
after  the  Civil  War? 

12.  How  do  you  explain  the  decrease  in  men  teachers  at  about  the  same 
time  that  the  normal  schools  developed  most  rapidly? 

13.  Show  how  Child  Study  was  a  natural  development  from  the  Pesta- 
lozzian psychology  and  methodology. 

14.  Explain  what  is  meant  by  the  statements  that  Herbart  rejected: 

(a)  The  conventional  social  idea  of  Locke. 

(b)  The  unsocial  ideal  of  Rousseau. 

(c)  The  "faculty-psychology"  conception  of  Pestalozzi. 

15.  Explain  what  is  meant  by  saying  that  Herbart  conceived  of  educa- 
tion as  broadly  social  rather  than  personal. 

16.  Show  in  what  ways  and  to  what  extent  Herbart: 

(a)  Enlarged  our  conception  of  the  educational  process. 
(6)  Improved  the  instruction  content  and  process. 

17.  Explain  why  Herbartian  ideas  took  so  much  more  quickly  in  the 
United  States  than  did  Pestalozzianism. 

18.  State  the  essentials  of  the  kindergarten  idea,  and  the  psychology 
behind  it. 

19.  State  the  contribution  of  the  kindergarten  idea  to  American  education. 

20.  Show  the  connection  between  the  sense  impression  ideas  to  Pesta- 
lozzi, the  self-activity  of  Froebel,  and  the  manual  activities  of  the 
modern  elementary  school. 

21.  Show  how  a  faculty  psychology  and  set  and  uniform  manual  training 
exercises  stood  and  fell  together. 

22.  State  the  new  method  in  instruction  indicated  by  the  *  for  each  sub- 
ject in  the  table  on  page  327. 

TOPICS  FOR  INVESTIGATION  AND  REPORT 

1.  Early  work  of  Carter  and  Hall  in  establishing  normal  schools. 

2.  David  Page  and  the  Albany  normal  school.    (Barnard.) 

3.  Teacher  training  in  the  academies. 

4.  Change  in  character  of  arithmetical  instruction  produced  by  Col- 
burn's  book. 

5.  Work  and  influence  of  the  Oswego  normal  school.    (Hollis.) 

6.  The  Pestalozzian  movement  in  the  United  States.    (Monroe.) 

7.  Work  and  influence  of  the  St.  Louis  city  school  system  under  William 
T.  Harris. 

8.  The  change  in  geography  teaching  during  the  last  century. 


3S0  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

9.  The  change  in  arithmetical  teaching  during  the  last  century. 

10.  The  change  in  teaching  of  reading  during  the  last  century. 

11.  The  Child  Study  movement  in  American  education. 

12.  Change  in  the  character  of  the  kindergarten  since  its  introduction. 

13.  Change  in  the  character  of  manual  training  instruction  since  its 
introduction. 

SELECTED  REFERENCES 

Barnard,  Henry,  Editor.  The  American  Journal  of  Education,  31  vols. 
Consult  Analytical  Index  to;  128  pp.  Published  by  United  States  Bureau 
of  Education,  Washington,  1892. 

*Bowen,  H.  C.  Froebel  and  Education  through  Self- Activity.  209  pp.  Chas. 
Scribner's  Sons,  New  York,  1893. 
An  excellent  historical  account. 

De  Garmo,  Chas.  Herbart  and  the  Herbartians.  268  pp.  Chas.  Scribner's 
Sons,  New  York,  1895. 

Traces  the  development  of  the  movement  in  Germany  and  America. 
Dewey,  John  and  Evelyn.    Schools  of  To-morrow.    316  pp.    E.  P.  Dutton 
&  Co.,  New  York,  1915. 

Chapter  X  gives  a  good  criticism  of  the  new  Montessori  work,  and  compares  it  with 
the  more  psychologically  sound  kindergarten. 

*Gordy,  J.  P.  Rise  and  Growth  of  the  Normal  School  Idea  in  the  United  States. 
145  pp.  Circular  of  Information,  United  States  Bureau  of  Education, 
No.  8,  1891. 

An  important  contribution. 

Harris,  William  T.  "Twenty  Years  of  Progress  in  Education";  in  Pro- 
ceedings of  the  National  Education  Association,  1892,  pp.  56-61. 

*Hollis,  A.  P.  The  Oswego  Movement.  136  pp.  D.  C.  Heath  &  Co., 
Boston,  1898. 

The  contribution  of  the  Oswego  Normal  School  to  educational  progress  in  the  United 
States,  through  its  work  in  introducing  Pestalozzian  methods. 

Jones,  L.  H.    "E.  A.  Sheldon";  in  Educational  Review,  vol.  14,  pp.  428-32. 
(Dec,  1897.) 
An  appreciative  sketch. 
*Monroe,  Paul.  Cyclopedia  of  Education.    The  Macmillan  Co.,  New  York, 
1911-13. 
The  following  articles  are  particularly  important: 
1.  "Child  Study";  vol.  i,  pp.  615-21. 
8.  "Froebel,  F.";  vol.  n,  pp.  713-23. 

3.  "Herbart,  J.  F.";  vol.  m,  pp.  250-53. 

4.  "Kindergarten,  The";  vol.  in,  598-606. 

5.  "Manual  Training";  vol.  iv,  pp.  124-28. 

6.  "Normal  School";  vol.  iv,  pp.  481. 

7.  "Object  Teaching";  vol.  rv,  pp.  523-25. 

8.  "Parker,  F.  W.";  vol.  iv,  pp.  606-07. 
Also  see  articles  on  Arithmetic,  Geography,  etc. 


ELEMENTARY  EDUCATION  REORGANIZED      S31 

*Monroe,  Walter  S.  Development  of  Arithmetic  as  a  School  Subject.  170  pp. 
United  States  Bureau  of  Education,  Bulletin  No.  10,  Washington,  1917. 
An  excellent  collection  of  very  interesting  illustrative  material.  The  chapters  deal 
with  colonial  arithmetic,  the  cipbering-book  period,  Colburn's  Pestalozzian  arithmetic, 
influence  of  Colburn,  and  recent  tendencies.  The  volume  also  gives  the  table  of  con- 
tents of  the  most  important  early  arithmetics. 

Monroe,  Will  S.     "Joseph  Neef  and  Pestalozzianism  in  America";  in 

Education,  vol.  14,  p.  479.  (April,  1894.) 
*Monroe,  Will  S.  History  of  the  Pestalozzian  Movement  in  the  United  States. 

244  pp.     C.  W.  Bardeen,  Syracuse,  1907. 

An  important  work.     Good  on  early  movements  —  Oswego,  St.  Louis  —  and  with 

good  bibliography. 

*Parker,  S.  C.  History  of  Modern  Elementary  Education.  506  pp.  Ginn  & 
Co.,  Boston,  1912. 

Chapter  XV  is  very  good  on  Pestalozzian  object  teaching  and  oral  instruction,  and 
Chapter  XVI  on  Pestalozzian  formalism  and  degenerate  object  teaching,  while  Chapters 
XVII  and  XVIII  are  very  detailed  and  readable  accounts  of  the  Herbartian  and  Froe- 
belian  movements  in  education. 

Phillips,  C.  A.  "Development  of  Methods  in  teaching  Modern  Elemen- 
tary Geography";  in  Elementary  School  Teacher,  vol.  10,  pp.  427-39, 
501-15. 

*Reeder,  R.  R.  Historical  Development  of  School  Readers.  92  pp.  Colum- 
bia University  Contributions  to  Philosophy,  Psychology,  and  Education, 
vol.  vm,  No.  2.  New  York,  1900. 

A  good  description  of  early  readers,  and  of  the  evolution  of  modern  methods  of  teach- 
ing reading. 

Smith,  D.  E.     "The  Development  of  American  Arithmetic";  in  Educa- 
tional Review,  vol.  52,  pp.  109-18.     (Sept.,  1916.) 
Historical  sketch  of  influences  and  results. 

*Vandewalker,  N.  C.  The  Kindergarten  in  American  Education.  274 
pp.  The  Macmillan  Co.,  New  York,  1908. 

A  very  important  historical  aocount  of  the  kindergarten  movement  in  the  United  States. 


CHAPTER  XI 

NEW  MODIFYING  FORCES 

We  have  now  traced  the  evolution  of  the  American  pub- 
lic school  from  the  beginnings  of  education  at  public  expense 
down  through  the  educational  reorganization  which  took 
place  within  the  school  between  1860  and  1900,  and  have 
shown  how  the  native  American  elementary  school  was 
modified  and  expanded  and  changed  in  character  as  the  re- 
sult of  new  educational  ideas  which  came  to  us  from  abroad. 
Since  1860,  too,  but  particularly  since  about  1885  to  1890, 
our  schools  have  also  been  profoundly  modified  in  character 
and  changed  in  direction  by  forces  other  then  educational, 
and  to  these  we  next  turn.  In  doing  so  we  shall  need  to  go 
back  and  pick  up  the  beginnings  of  these  new  forces,  trace 
briefly  their  development,  and  point  out  their  far-reaching 
influence  on  our  educational  aims  and  procedure.  The  two 
great  new  forces  to  which  we  refer  were  foreign  immigration 
and  the  industrial  revolution.  These  two  combined  pro- 
duced vast  social  changes  which  in  turn  have  necessitated 
important  changes  in  our  educational  aims  and  practices. 

I.  Changes  in  the  Character  of  our  People 
Our  original  stock.  In  previous  chapters  it  has  been 
shown  that  in  all  our  early  educational  traditions  and  pro- 
cedure we  were  essentially  English.  The  Dutch  parochial 
school  had  been  established  in  a  few  towns  in  New  Amster- 
dam, but  most  of  these  had  lapsed  or  been  superseded  by 
English  schools  after  New  Amsterdam  passed  to  the  control 
of  the  English.  Some  Lutheran  Swedes  had  settled  along 
the  Delaware  and  established  there  their  type  of  schools^ 
but  in  time  these  were  assimilated  by  the  English  around 
them  and  they,  too,  became  English-speaking  schools.    Only 


NEW  MODIFYING  FORCES 


333 


in  Pennsylvania  was  there  any  marked  grouping  of  non- 
English-speaking  peoples.  We  were  in  origin,  and  by  the 
time  of  the  American  Revolution  certainly  had  become,  an 
English-type  colony,  speaking  the  English  language,  fol- 
lowing English  customs  and  observances,  adopting  English 
law  and  English  habits  in  morality  and  Sunday  observances, 
and  such  schools 
as  existed  were,  al- 
ways excepting  the 
Germans  of  Penn- 
sylvania, almost  en- 
tirely English-speak- 
ing schools. 

Some  conception 
as  to  the  character 
of  our  original  pop- 
ulation may  be  ob- 
tained from  the  re- 
cords of  the  first  Fed- 
eral Census,  taken 
in  1790.  It  was  not 
customary  then,  as 
it  is  now,  to  note 
down  the  country 
in  which  each  per- 
son was  born  and  the  nationality  of  the  parents,  but  an 
analysis  has  been  made  of  the  names  of  all  persons  appearing 
on  the  lists  of  this  first  census  to  determine  their  original 
nationality.  The  result  is  shown,  for  the  white  population, 
in  the  accompanying  drawing.  This  shows  that  83.5  per 
cent  of  the  population  possessed  names  indicating  pure  Eng- 
lish  origin*  ;ind  that  91.8  per  cent  had  names  which  pointed 
to  their  having  come  from  the  British  Isles.  The  next  larg- 
est name-nationality  was  the  German,  with  5.6  per  cent,  and 
these  were  found  chiefly  in  Pennsylvania,  where  they  con- 
stituted 26.1  per  cent  of  the  total  population.  Next  were 
those  having  Dutch  names,  who  constituted  2  per  cent  of 


Fig. 


Nationality  of  the  White  Popula- 
tion,   AS  8HOWN  BY  THE  FAMILY   NAMES  IN 

the  Census  op  1790 


334  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

the  whole  population,  and  16.1  per  cent  of  the  population  of 
New  York.  No  other  nationality  constituted  over  one  half 
of  one  per  cent  of  the  total.  The  New  England  States  then 
were  almost  as  English  as  England  itself,  93  to  96  per  cent 
of  the  names  being  pure  English,  and  98.5  to  99.8  per  cent 
being  from  the  British  Isles. 

The  stream  of  immigrants  begins.  Up  to  1820  the  annual 
immigration  into  the  United  States  was  quite  small,  mostly 
English  in  character,  and  no  records  as  to  it  were  taken  by 
the  Government.  In  1820,  the  first  year  for  which  records 
were  kept,  the  number  coming  was  only  8385,  and  it  was 
not  until  1825  that  the  number  of  immigrants  reached  fifty 
thousand,  and  not  until  1842  that  it  reached  one  hundred 
thousand.  Excepting  only  two  years  during  our  Civil  War, 
the  immigration  to  the  United  States,  since  1845,  has  never 
been  less  than  one  hundred  thousand.  Between  1847  and 
1857  inclusive,  the  number  coming  was  in  no  year  less  than 
two  hundred  thousand,  and  in  1854  the  number  was  427,833. 
Since  1903  the  numbers  have  ranged  from  three  quarters  of 
a  million  to  one  and  one  quarter  millions  each  year,  and 
the  total  immigration  from  1820  to  1914  has  been  32,102,671. 
Compared  with  this  vast  movement  of  peoples  to  a  new 
world  the  migrations  of  the  Germanic  tribes  —  Angles, 
Saxons,  Jutes,  Goths,  Visigoths,  Ostrogoths,  Vandals, 
Sueves,  Danes,  Burgundians,  Huns  —  into  the  old  Roman 
Empire  in  the  fourth  and  fifth  centuries  pale  into  insignifi- 
cance. No  such  great  movement  of  peoples  was  ever  known 
before  in  history. 

Up  to  1825  at  least,  the  immigrants  coming  to  the  United 
States  continued  to  be  largely  English,  Scotch,  and  Protest- 
ant Irish,  with  a  few  Protestant  Germans  to  the  Eastern 
cities  and  to  Pennsylvania.  These  fitted  in  easily  with  the 
existing  population,  and  awakened  but  little  notice  and  no 
fear.  Between  1820  and  1840  both  the  German  and  the 
Irish  immigration  increased  rapidly,  and  Irish  Catholics  from 
central  and  southern  Ireland  began  to  replace  the  north- 
ern Protestant  Irish  of  the  earlier  migration.     It  was  dur- 


NEW  MODIFYING  FORCES  335 

ing  the  period  from  1830  to  1850  that  the  Catholic  parochial- 
school  question  first  began  to  appear  in  cities  of  the  North 
Atlantic  group  of  States,  and  the  controversy  over  the  secu- 
larization of  American  education  was  brought  to  the  front. 

The  north  and  west  of  Europe  migrations.  The  years 
1846-48  were  years  when  the  potato  crop  of  Ireland  was 
almost  a  complete  failure,  and,  driven  out  by  famine  and 
by  the  oppressive  system  of  landlordism  which  prevailed, 
great  numbers  of  Irish  immigrants  came  to  the  United 
States  to  find  a  new  home.  They  settled  chiefly  in  the  cities 
of  the  North  Atlantic  group  of  States.  Between  1845  and 
1855  a  million  and  a  quarter  came,  and  again,  in  1882,  fol- 
lowing another  famine,  Irish  immigration  reached  another 
high  point.  In  all,  over  four  millions  of  Irish  have  come 
to  us  since  1820,  and  they  still  constitute  ten  per  cent  of  all 
our  foreign-born  people.  Unlike  the  other  North  and  West 
of  Europe  peoples,  Ireland  had  a  high  degree  of  illiteracy. 
The  census  of  1841  showed  that  fifty-three  per  cent  of  the 
people  of  Ireland  over  five  years  of  age  were  unable  to  read 
and  write.  Less  than  one  half  of  those  who  came  in  the 
early  migration,  and  scarcely  one  quarter  of  those  who  came 
later,  could  read  and  write,  and  the  coming  of  such  large 
numbers  of  people,  poor  and  uneducated,  who  would  ulti- 
mately become  citizens  and  voters,  awakened  a  solicitude 
for  our  political  future  among  the  people  of  the  northeastern 
part  of  the  United  States  which  materially  aided  in  the  es- 
tablishment there  of  public  education  and  the  development 
of  state  oversight  and  control. 

About  this  time  the  United  States  also  began  to  receive 
large  numbers  of  Germans.  Up  to  1830  the  number  of  this 
nationality  arriving  had  been  negligible,  as  the  government 
at  home  had  been  satisfactory.  After  1835,  however,  with 
the  growing  narrowness  of  the  German  state  governments, 
German  immigration  began  a  constant  increase,  and  after 
the  unsuccessful  German  revolutions  of  1848  great  numbers 
of  liberty-loving  Germans,  chiefly  from  the  South  German 
States,  left  the  Fatherland  and  came  to  this  country.    Dur- 


336  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

ing  the  decade  from  1846  to  1855  over  a  million  and  a  quar- 
ter came,  settling  in  the  cities  of  the  eastern  part  of  the 
United  States  and  the  cities  and  farming  regions  of  the  up- 
per Mississippi  Valley.  After  the  establishment  of  the  Impe- 
rial German  Government,  in  1870,  and  the  definite  embarka- 
tion of  this  Government  on  an  aggressive  military  policy, 
large  numbers  of  Germans  left  the  Empire  and  came  to  us, 
approximately  two  millions  arriving  between  1881  and  1895. 
In  all,  a  total  of  about  five  and  a  quarter  million  Germans, 
the  best  and  most  liberty-loving  of  the  German  people,  have 
come  to  this  country  since  1820. 

Unlike  the  Irish  who  came  earlier,  the  Germans  were  a 
picked  and  a  well-educated  class,  the  earlier  ones  having 
left  Germany  largely  because  of  political  and  religious  op- 
pression, and  the  later  ones  largely  to  escape  forced  military 
service.  The  early  Germans  usually  came  in  groups,  formed 
settlements  by  themselves,  held  themselves  aloof,  and  for 
a  time  constituted  a  segregated  intellectual  aristocracy 
among  our  people.  They  too  awakened  considerable  alarm, 
as  they,  for  a  time,  showed  but  little  disposition  to  become  a 
part  of  our  national  life. 

During  the  middle  years  of  the  nineteenth  century  large 
numbers  of  English  came,  in  all  a  total  of  about  three  and  a 
half  millions  having  arrived  since  1820.  After  1840  Scan- 
dinavians, attracted  by  the  free  farms  of  the  Northwest,  also 
began  to  appear,  though  they  did  not  reach  the  great  period 
of  their  migration  until  the  decade  of  the  eighties.  In  all 
nearly  two  million  Scandinavians  have  come  to  our  shores. 

While  these  different  peoples  frequently  settled  in  groups 
and  for  a  time  retained  their  foreign  language,(  manners,  and 
customs,  they  have  not  been  particularly  difficult  to  assimi- 
late. Of  all  these  early  immigrants  the  Germans  have 
shown  the  greatest  resistance  to  the  assimilative  process. 
All  except  the  Irish  came  from  countries  which  embraced 
the  Protestant  Reformation  (see  map,  Fig.  1,  page  7),  where 
general  education  prevailed,  and  where  progressive  meth- 
ods in  agriculture,  trade,  and  manufacturing  had  begun  to 


NEW  MODIFYING  FORCES 


337 


supersede  primitive  methods.  All  were  from  race  stock 
not  very  different  from  our  own,  and  all  possessed  courage, 
initiative,  intelligence,  adaptability,  and  self-reliance  to  a 
great  degree.  The  willingness,  good-nature,  and  executive 
qualities  of  the  Irish;  the  intellectual  thoroughness  of  the 
German ;  the  respect  for  law  and  order  of  the  English ;  and  the 
thrift,  sobriety,  and  industry  of  the  Scandinavians  have 
been  good  additions  to  our  national  life. 

Change  in  character  of  our  immigration.  After  about 
1882  the  character  of  our  immigration  changed  in  a  very  re- 
markable manner. 
Immigration  from 
the  North  and  West 
of  Europe  began 
to  decline  rather 
abruptly,  and  in  its 
place  immigration 
from  the  South  and 
East  of  Europe  set 
in.  This  soon  de- 
veloped into  a  great 
stream.  Practically 
no  Italians  came  to 
us  before  1870,  but 
by  1890  they  were 
coming  at  the  rate 
of  twenty  thousand  Fio.  61.  Foreign-born  in  the  United  States 
a  year,  and  during  as  shown  by  the  Census  op  1910 

the  five-year  period 

1906-10  as  many  as  1,186,100  arrived.  After  1880,  in 
addition,  people  from  all  parts  of  that  medley  of  races 
which  formerly  constituted  the  Austro-Hungarian  Empire 
—  Poles,  Bohemians,  Moravians,  Slovaks,  Slovenes,  Ruthe- 
iii.-ms,  Dalmatians,  Croatians,  Bosnians,  Magyars,  and  Aus- 
tria ns;  Serbs,  Bulgars,  Roumanians,  Montenegrins,  and 
Albanians  from  the  Balkans;  Slavs,  Poles,  and  Jews  from 
Russia;  and  Japanese  and  Koreans  from  the  Far  East,  be- 


838  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

gan  to  come  in  numbers.  After  1900,  Finns  and  Lithuanians 
from  the  North,  driven  out  by  Russian  persecution;  and 
Greeks,  Syrians,  Armenians,  and  Turks  from  the  South, 
have  come  in  shiploads  to  our  shores.  French  Canadians 
also  have  crossed  the  border  in  large  numbers  and  crowded 
into  the  mill-towns  of  New  England.  As  a  result  we  had,  in 
1910,  thirteen  and  a  half  millions  of  foreign-born  people  in 
our  population,  distributed  as  shown  in  Figure  80,  of  whom 
practically  forty  per  cent  had  come  from  the  South  and  East 
of  Europe.  Of  the  immigration  since  1900  almost  eighty 
per  cent  has  come  from  there.  In  addition  to  these  thirteen 
and  a  half  millions  of  foreign-born,  an  additional  nine  and 
a  half  million  were  native-born,  but  the  children  of  foreign 
parents,  and  of  another  six  million  one  parent  was  foreign- 
born. 

These  Southern  and  Eastern  Europeans  were  of  a  very 
different  type  from  the  North  and  West  Europeans  who  pre- 
ceded them.  Largely  illiterate,  docile,  lacking  in  initia- 
tive, and  almost  wholly  without  the  Anglo-Saxon  concep- 
tions of  righteousness,  liberty,  law,  order,  public  decency,  and 
government,  their  coming  has  served  to  dilute  tremendously 
our  national  stock  and  to  weaken  and  corrupt  our  political 
life.  Settling  largely  in  the  cities  of  the  North,  the  agricul- 
tural regions  of  the  Middle  and  the  Far  West,  and  the  min- 
ing districts  of  the  mountain  regions,  they  have  created 
serious  problems  in  housing  and  living,  moral  and  sanitary 
conditions,  and  honest  and  decent  government,  while  popu- 
lar education  has  everywhere  been  made  more  difficult  by 
their  presence.  The  result  has  been  that  in  many  sections 
of  our  country  foreign  manners,  customs,  observances,  and 
language  have  tended  to  supplant  native  ways  and  the  Eng- 
lish speech,  while  the  so-called  "melting-pot"  has  had  more 
than  it  could  handle.  The  new  peoples,  and  especially 
those  from  the  South  and  East  of  Europe,  have  come  so  fast 
that  we  have  been  unable  to  absorb  and  assimilate  them, 
and  our  national  life,  for  the  past  quarter  of  a  century,  has 
been  afflicted  with  a  serious  case  of  racial  indigestion. 


340         EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

The  United  States  to-day  a  great  cosmopolitan  mixture. 
The  result  of  this  great  world-wide  movement  of  peoples  is 
that  the  United  States  to-day  represents  the  most  cosmopoli- 
tan mixture  of  peoples  and  races  to  be  found  anywhere  on  the 
face  of  the  earth.  Only  in  the  Southern  States  is  there  an 
absence  of  a  large  percentage  of  foreign-born,  and  there  the 
problem  of  the  negro  and  his  education  takes  the  place  of  the 
foreign-born  educational  problem. 

How  great  the  American  mixture  is  we  scarcely  realize 
until  we  take  stock  of  our  neighbors.  We  buy  our  groceries 
of  Knudsen  and  Larsen,  our  meats  of  Klieber  and  Engel- 
meier,  our  bread  of  Rudolf  Krause,  Petar  Petarovich  de- 
livers our  milk,  Giuseppe  Battali  removes  our  garbage,  Swen 
Swensen  delivers  our  ice,  Takahira  Matsui  is  our  cook,  and 
Nicholas  Androvsky  has  recently  taken  the  place  of  Pancho 
Garcia  as  our  gardener.  We  occasionally  take  dinner  at  a 
cafe  managed  by  Schiavetti  and  Montagnini,  we  buy  our 
haberdashery  of  Moses  Ickelheimer,  Isaac  Rosenstein  is  our 
tailor,  Azniv  Arakelian  sells  us  our  cigars,  and  Thirmutis 
Poulis  supplies  our  wants  in  ice  cream  and  candies.  Timo- 
thy Mehegan  represents  our  ward  in  the  city  council,  Patrick 
O'Grady  is  the  policeman  on  our  beat,  Nellie  O'Brien  teaches 
our  little  girl  at  school,  Nels  Petersen  is  our  postman, 
Vladimir  Constantinovitch  is  our  street-sweeper,  Lazar 
Obichan  reads  our  electric  meter,  Lorenzo  Guercio  sells 
potted  plants  and  flowers  on  the  corner,  Mahmoud  Bey 
peddles  second-grade  fruit  past  our  door,  and  AJexis  Grab- 
lowsky  mends  and  presses  our  suits  and  cleans  our  hats  in 
a  little  shop  two  blocks  down  the  street.  The  service  ga- 
rage, run  by  Pestarino  and  Pozzi,  looks  after  our  car,  Emil 
Frankfurter  is  the  cashier  at  our  bank,  Kleanthis  Vassar- 
dakis  shines  shoes  in  our  office  building,  and  Wilhelmina 
Weinstein  is  our  office  stenographer.  The  recent  military 
poster,  calling  attention  to  the  draft  registration  of  those 
18  to  45,  was  repeated  in  fifteen  different  languages  on 
the  sheet.  The  casualty  list  in  the  morning  paper  as  we 
write  announces  that,  among  others,  such  representative 


NEW  MODIFYING  FORCES  341 

American  citizens  as  Rudolph  Kochensparger,  Robert  Em- 
met O'Hanlon,  Ralph  McGregor,  John  Jones,  Rastus  Brown, 
Pietro  Sturla,  Rafael  Gonzales,  Dominico  Sebatino,  Ignace 
Olzanski,  Diego  Lemos,  and  Manthos  Zakis  have  made  the 
supreme  sacrifice  on  the  battle-fields  of  France  in  defense 
of  the  civilization  of  the  world.  If  our  earlier  statesmen 
were  concerned  at  the  coming  of  the  Irish  and  the  Ger- 
mans, well  may  we  be  alarmed  at  the  deluge  of  diverse  peo- 
ples which  has  poured  into  this  Nation  during  the  past  forty 
years. 

Assimilation  and  amalgamation.  The  problem  which 
has  faced  and  still  faces  the  United  States  is  that  of  assimi- 
lating these  thousands  of  foreigners  into  our  national  life  and 
citizenship.  We  must  do  this  or  lose  our  national  character. 
The  German  tried  to  solve  the  problem  with  his  subject  peo- 
ples by  coercion,  and  failed;  the  French  and  English  hold 
their  colonials  by  kind,  considerate,  and  good  government; 
we  have  either  neglected  the  problem  entirely  or  have 
trusted  to  our  schools  to  handle  the  children  and  to  our  labor 
unions  to  initiate  the  adults.  As  a  result,  the  census  of  1910 
showed  that  we  had  among  us  ten  millions  of  foreign-born 
who  professed  no  allegiance  to  the  land  of  their  adoption, 
and  a  large  percentage  of  this  number  could  neither  read 
nor  write  English.  Still  worse,  many  of  the  number  live  in 
foreign  settlements  or  foreign  quarters  in  our  cities,  where 
they  can  get  along  without  even  speaking  the  English  lan- 
guage, and  their  children  not  infrequently  are  sent  to  a  non- 
English-speaking  parochial  school.  Of  the  11,726,506  im- 
migrants who  came  to  us  during  the  four  years  preceding 
the  outbreak  of  the  World  War,  26.5  per  cent  were  unable 
to  read  and  write  any  language,  and  not  over  12  per  cent 
could  speak  English. 

In  view  of  the  large  migrations  of  diverse  peoples  to  us 
since  1 8 l.">  we  were  fortunate,  indeed,  that  before  that  time 
we  had  settled  in  the  affirmative  the  question  of  general 
education  at  public  expense;  that  we  had  provided  for 
English  schools,  even  for  the  Germans  of  Pennsylvania; 


342  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

and  that  we  had  definitely  eliminated  the  sectarian  school 
from  our  program  for  public  education.  A  common  English 
language,  our  common  law  and  political  institutions,  our 
common  democratic  life,  our  newspaper  habit,  our  free  so- 
jcial  intercourse,  our  common  free  schools,  our  ease  of  commu- 
nication, our  tolerance  of  other  peoples,  and  the  general  ab- 
sence of  a  priesthood  bent  on  holding  nationalities  together 
for  religious  ends  —  all  these  have  helped  us  in  the  assimila- 
tion of  other  races.  On  the  other  hand,  the  process  has  been 
retarded  by  the  coming  of  such  numbers,  by  city  congre- 
gation and  segregation,  by  the  coming  of  so  many  male 
adults  without  their  wives  and  children,  by  the  work  of  the 
Germans  in  trying  to  preserve  their  language  and  racial  hab- 
its and  Kultur,  and  by  the  work  of  the  Catholic  and  Lutheran 
churches  in  endeavoring  to  hold  nationalities  together. 

The  greatest  success  in  assimilating  the  new  peoples  who 
have  come  to  us  has  been  made  by  the  school  and  the  labor 
unions,  but  up  to  recent  years  the  school  has  reached  only 
the  children  of  those  classes  bringing  their  families  with 
them  and  who  have  not  been  attracted  by  the  foreign-lan- 
guage parochial  school.  With  these  children  the  results 
have  in  general  been  remarkable,  and  the  schools  have  proved 
to  be  our  greatest  agency  for  unifying  the  diverse  elements 
of  our  population.  Even  under  the  best  circumstances, 
though,  it  requires  time  to  so  assimilate  the  foreign-born 
that  they  come  to  have  our  conceptions  of  law  and  order 
and  government,  and  come  to  act  in  harmony  with  the  spirit 
and  purpose  of  our  American  national  ideals.  After  this  end 
has  been  attained,  which  usually  requires  two  or  three  gen- 
erations, the  amalgamation  of  the  descendants  of  these 
peoples  into  our  evolving  American  racial  stock  may  take 
place  through  intermarriage  and  the  mixture  of  blood.  As- 
similation is  a  blending  of  civilizations  and  customs  to  create 
that  homogeneity  necessary  for  citizenship  and  national  feel- 
ing, and  may  be  promoted  by  education  and  social  institu- 
tions and  wise  legislation;  amalgamation  is  a  blending  of 
races  and  bloods,  and  is  a  process  of  centuries.     Through 


NEW  MODIFYING  FORCES  343 

the  assimilation  of  all  our  diverse  elements  we  are  preparing 
the  way  for  that  future  amalgamation  of  racial  elements 
which  will  in  time  produce  the  American  race. 

II.  The  Industrial  Revolution 
Industrial  changes  since  1850.  In  Chapter  IV,  under  the 
heading  "Rise  of  Manufacturing,"  we  traced  somewhat 
briefly  the  beginnings  of  manufacturing  in  the  United  States, 
and  pointed  out  how  the  application  of  steam,  the  perfecting 
of  inventions,  and  the  development  of  transportation  rev- 
olutionized the  industrial  methods  of  our  people  of  the  north- 
eastern part  of  the  United  States,  between  1820  and  1850. 
We  also  pointed  out  how  these  industrial  changes  and  the 
rise  of  the  factory  system  meant  the  beginnings  of  the  break- 
ing up  of  home  and  village  industry,  the  inauguration  of  a 
cityward  movement  of  the  population,  the  rise  of  entirely 
new  educational  and  social  problems,  the  ultimate  concen- 
tration of  manufacturing  in  large  establishments,  and  the 
consequent  rise  of  the  city  to  a  very  important  place  in  our 
national  life. 

The  changes  which  had  been  accomplished  by  1850, 
though,  or  even  by  1860,  were  but  the  beginnings  of  a  vast 
change  in  the  nature  of  our  national  life  which  has  since 
gone  forward  with  ever-increasing  rapidity,  and  has  extended 
to  all  parts  of  the  Nation.  As  a  result  the  United  States 
stands  to-day  as  the  greatest  manufacturing  country  of  the 
whole  world.  There  are  few  things  connected  with  the 
wonderful  development  of  our  country  since  1850  which 
stand  out  more  prominently  than  the  amazing  rapidity  with 
which  we  have  gone  to  the  front  as  a  manufacturing  nation. 
Awakening  to  the  wonderful  possibilities  which  the  vast 
native  resources  in  iron,  coal,  timber,  and  mineral  wealth 
of  the  country  gave  us;  utilizing  the  best  European,  and 
especially  the  best  English  manufacturing  experience;  and 
applying  new  technical  knowledge,  which  in  1860  we  had 
scarcely  begun  to  teach,  —  Yankee  ingenuity  and  energy 
and  brains  have  since  pushed  American  products  to  the  front 


344  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

by  leaps  and  bounds.  In  textiles,  in  iron  and  steel  products, 
and  in  high-grade  tools  and  machinery  in  particular,  our 
American  products  successfully  compete  throughout  the 
world.  In  coal  production,  the  lumber  industry,  and  in  agri- 
culture the  United  States  to-day  stands  first.  The  packing 
and  exporting  of  meats  and  meat  products  has  also  become  a 
great  national  industry,  and  American  refrigerated  beef  and 
bacon  and  hams  are  sent  to  all  quarters  of  the  globe.  In 
hundreds  of  specialized  industries,  such  as  the  manufacture 
of  furniture,  desks,  typewriters,  office  conveniences,  auto- 
mobiles, motor-cycles,  bicycles,  farm  tractors,  reapers  and 
threshers,  locomotives,  printing-presses,  sewing  machines, 
surgical  instruments,  edge  tools,  electrical  goods,  plumb- 
ing supplies,  phonographs,  rifles,  explosives,  cotton  goods, 
and  shoes,  American  manufactured  articles  supply  not  only 
the  home  market,  but  are  exported  all  over  the  world. 
Scarcely  a  year  has  passed,  during  the  last  forty  at  least, 
that  American  inventive  genius  and  energy  and  labor  com- 
bined have  not  wrested  from  other  nations  a  world-lead  in 
some  new  article  of  manufacture,  and  the  result  of  the 
World  War  promises  to  be  that  the  leadership  in  many  new 
lines  will  pass  to  us.  Particularly  do  we  promise  to  gain  at 
the  expense  of  Germany  in  such  large  and  important  lines  as 
the  manufacture  of  dyes  and  chemicals,  in  which  for  so  long 
the  Germans  had  the  lead. 

Vast  changes  since  Lincoln's  day.  We  can  perhaps  get  a 
better  idea  of  the  tremendous  industrial  development  of 
the  United  States  since  1860  if  we  try  to  picture  to  ourselves 
the  things  with  which  Lincoln  was  unacquainted.  When  he 
died,  in  1865,  the  world  was  relatively  simple  and  undevel- 
oped, and  business  methods  were  old-fashioned  compared 
with  what  we  know  to-day.  If  Lincoln  were  to  return  now 
and  walk  down  Pennsylvania  Avenue,  in  Washington,  he 
would  be  astonished  at  the  things  he  would  see.  Buildings 
more  than  three  or  four  stories  high  would  be  new,  as  the 
steel-frame  building  was  unknown  in  1865.  The  large  plate- 
glass  show  windows  of  the  stores,  the  electroliers  along  the 


NEW  MODIFYING  FORCES  345 

curb,  the  moving-picture  establishments,  the  electric  eleva- 
tors in  the  buildings,  the  beautiful  shops,  and  especially  the 
big  department  stores  would  be  things  in  his  day  unknown. 
The  smooth-paved  streets  and  cement  sidewalks  would  be 
new  to  him.  The  fast-moving  electric  street-cars  and  motor- 
vehicles  would  fill  him  with  wonder.  Even  a  boy  on  a  bi- 
cycle would  be  a  curiosity.  Entering  the  White  House,  the 
sanitary  plumbing,  steam  heating,  electric  lights,  electric 
fans,  telephones,  typewriters,  modern  office  furniture  and 
filing  devices,  the  Edison  phonograph  and  dictaphone,  and 
the  fountain  pen  would  have  to  be  explained  to  him.  In  his 
day  plumbing  was  in  its  beginnings,  coal-oil  lamps  and  gas- 
jets  were  just  coming  into  use,  and  the  steel  pen  had  but 
recently  superseded  the  quill.  There  were  stenographers 
then,  but  all  letters  and  papers  were  still  written  out  by  hand. 
As  for  communication,  messenger  boys  with  written  notes 
ran  everywhere  on  foot,  and  the  transaction  of  all  kinds  of 
business  was  exceedingly  slow.  The  telegraph  had  recently 
been  installed,  but  it  still  required  two  weeks  to  get  news 
from  England,  and  two  months  from  Manila  or  Valparaiso. 
The  steel  rail,  the  steel  bridge,  fast  vestibuled  trains,  high- 
powered  locomotives,  transcontinental  railways,  dining- 
cars,  refrigerator  cars,  artificial  ice,  friction  matches,  repeat- 
ing rifles,  machine  guns,  smokeless  powder,  submarines, 
dynamite,  money  orders,  special -delivery  stamps,  weather 
reports  and  flags,  the  parcels  post,  gasoline  engines,  electric 
motors,  type-setting  machines,  chemical  fire  engines,  self- 
winding watches,  player-pianos,  the  cable,  the  wireless,  the 
traction  engine,  the  cream  separator,  the  twine  binder,  the 
caterpillar  tractor,  —  these  and  hundreds  of  other  inven- 
tions in  common  use,  which  now  simplify  life  and  add  to  our 
convenience  and  pleasure,  were  all  alike  unknown.  The 
cause  and  mode  of  transmission  of  the  great  diseases  which 
decimated  armies  and  cities  —  plague,  cholera,  malaria,  yel- 
low fever,  typhoid  fever,  typhus,  and  dysentery  —  were  all 
unknown.  Anaesthetics,  sanitary  plumbing,  paved  streets, 
sleeping-cars,  and  through  railways  were  just  coming  in  when 


He  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

Lincoln  died,  while  such  terms  as  "bacteria,"  "eugenics,," 
"evolution,"  and  "sanitation"  were  seldom  used  or  entirely 
unknown.  Much  of  what  every  one  ate  or  wore  was  still 
manufactured  in  the  home,  the  apprenticeship  system  still 
ruled  in  almost  all  lines,  and  every  youngster  still  had 
"chores"  to  do  and  enough  physical  and  manual  activity 
to  answer  all  human  needs.  Life  was  still  relatively  simple, 
agriculture  was  still  the  great  industry  of  the  people,  and 
77.8  per  cent  of  the  people  of  the  Nation  still  lived  on  the 
farms.  But  16.1  per  cent  had  settled  in  cities  of  8000  or 
more  inhabitants,  and  there  were  but  141  of  these  in  the 
entire  United  States. 

Changes  in  the  nature  of  living.  Since  1865  vast  and  far- 
reaching  changes  have  taken  place  in  the  nature  and  char- 
acter of  our  living,  with  the  result  that  we  live  to-day,  in 
many  respects,  in  an  entirely  new  world.  During  the  past 
hundred  years  steam  and  steel,  and  during  the  past  forty 
years  electricity  and  medical  science,  have  wrought  an  altera- 
tion in  human  living  greater  than  was  wrought  in  all  the  time 
from  the  Crusades  up  to  a  hundred  years  ago. 

Along  with  the  far-reaching  industrial  transformation  has 
come  a  tremendous  increase  in  the  sum  of  our  common  hu- 
man knowledge.  The  applications  of  science  have  become  so 
numerous,  books  and  magazines  have  so  multiplied  and  cheap- 
ened, trade  and  industry  have  become  so  specialized,  all 
kinds  of  life  have  been  so  increased  in  complexity,  and  the 
inter-relationships  of  mankind  have  been  so  extended  and 
have  grown  so  intricate,  that  what  one  needs  to  know  to-day 
has  been  greatly  increased  over  what  was  the  case  half  to 
three  quarters  of  a  century  ago.  Once  the  ability  to  read 
and  write  and  cipher  distinguished  the  educated  from  the 
uneducated  man;  to-day  the  man  who  knows  only  these 
simple  arts  is  an  uneducated  man,  hardly  fitted  to  meet  the 
struggle  for  existence  in  which  he  is  placed,  and  certainly  not 
fitted  to  participate  in  the  complex  industrial  and  political 
life  of  which  he  now  forms  a  part. 

Since  1860  cities  have  greatly  increased  in  number  and  in 


NEW  MODIFYING  FORCES  347 

the  complexity  of  their  life.  From  141  of  8000  inhabitants 
or  over  in  1860,  there  are  over  1200  of  over  10,000  to-day, 
and  some  15,000  incorporated  towns  and  cities  of  all  sizes. 
Approximately  one  half  our  people  to-day  live  in  incorporated 
towns  or  cities,  as  against  one  sixth  sixty  years  ago.  Great 
numbers  of  people  of  all  kinds  have  congregated  together  in 
the  cities,  as  the  industrial  life  of  the  Nation  has  developed, 
and  within  recent  decades  entire  new  cities  have  been  built 
and  developed  to  supply  the  needs  of  the  workers  in  some 
one  or  two  lines  or  a  group  of  related  industries. 

Rural  life  also  greatly  changed.  The  effects  of  the  indus- 
trial revolution  have  not  been  confined  to  the  cities  alone, 
but  have  extended  to  all  parts  of  our  national  life.  Life  in 
the  rural  districts  has  experienced  an  almost  equally  great 
change  in  character  and  direction.  During  the  past  thirty 
years  in  particular  there  have  been  marked  alterations  in  the 
character  of  life  on  the  farm.  Nearly  everywhere  the  harsh 
conditions  and  limitations  of  the  earlier  period  have  been 
modified,  everywhere  the  applications  of  science  and  the 
products  of  the  press  have  made  their  way  and  rendered  life 
easier  and  created  new  interests,  everywhere  new  medical 
and  sanitary  knowledge  have  made  rural  life  more  desirable, 
and  everywhere  the  old  isolation  and  the  narrow  provin- 
cialism of  the  rural  classes  are  passing  away.  The  great 
world-wide  increase  in  city  population  and  in  the  number  en- 
gaged in  the  manufacturing  industries,  all  of  whom  are  food 
and  clothing  consumers  but  not  producers,  coupled  with  a 
world-wide  increase  in  the  standard  of  living  and  the  per 
capita  food  and  clothing  consumption  of  the  people,  have 
created  much  greater  demands  for  fruits,  grains,  meats, 
hides,  cotton,  and  wool  than  heretofore.  The  general  intro- 
duction of  scientific  processes  and  methods  and  machinery, 
the  development  of  farming  on  a  large  scale,  and  the  open- 
ing of  world-wide  markets  due  to  the  perfecting  of  means  of 
transportation,  have  alike  combined  to  change  farming  from 
a  self-subsistence  industry  and  make  of  it  a  profitable  busi- 
ness undertaking.    Near  our  large  cities,  intensive  truck  gar- 


348  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

deninghas  been  extensively  developed,  and  in  this  our  foreign- 
born  have  been  particularly  successful.  New  agricultural 
regions  have  been  opened,  new  grains  and  fruits  introduced 
into  old  regions,  new  methods  of  marketing  and  preserving 
demonstrated,  and  new  bookkeeping  methods  have  been 
employed.  Largely  as  a  result  of  the  work  of  the  new  agri- 
cultural colleges,  agricultural  education  has  been  placed  on 
a  firm  foundation,  and  practical  and  helpful  assistance  has 
been  extended  to  farmers  all  over  the  United  States. 

Within  recent  years  a  marked  change  in  the  character  of 
the  farming  population  itself  has  taken  place.  In  the  richest 
agricultural  sections  of  our  country  the  earlier  sturdy  type 
of  American  farmer  is  everywhere  giving  way  to  the  tenant 
farmer,  because  he  is  leasing  his  farm  and  moving  to  the 
town  or  city  to  live  more  comfortably  and  to  give  his  children 
better  educational  and  social  advantages.  From  thirty  to 
forty  per  cent  of  the  farms  in  the  North  Central  States,  and 
from  fifty  to  sixty-five  per  cent  of  the  farms  in  the  South,  are 
to-day  let  out  to  tenant  farmers.  Still  more,  the  foreign- 
born  tenant  is  rapidly  displacing  the  native-born,  and 
Italians,  Austro-Huns,  Poles,  Slavs,  Bulgars,  Serbs,  Ar- 
menians, and  Japanese,  and  in  the  South  Italians  and 
negroes,  are  to-day  replacing  the  well-to-do  native  farmer 
of  an  earlier  period,  and  it  is  probable  that  the  movement  of 
these  new  peoples  to  the  farms  is  as  yet  only  in  its  beginnings. 
Capable  agriculturists,  thrifty  and  economical,  they  pass 
successively  from  farm  laborer  to  tenant,  and  from  tenant 
to  owner.  The  agricultural  consequences  of  these  changes 
in  the  character  of  our  rural  population  may  not  be  very 
significant,  but  the  educational  and  social  consequences  are 
very  important  and  very  far-reaching. 

III.  Effect  of  these  Changes  on  the  Home 
Changes  in  the  character  of  industry.    With  the  great  in- 
dustrial development  of  our  country,  and  the  concentration 
of  industries  about  certain  centers  of  population  where  cheap 
labor  is  plentiful,  the  character  of  home  life  has  altered 


NEW  MODIFYING  FORCES  349 

greatly.  To  these  centers  both  the  country  resident  and 
the  immigrant  have  been  attracted  in  large  numbers.  The 
opportunities  for  gaining  a  livelihood  there  at  easier  or  more 
remunerative  labor  have  drawn  to  these  population-centers 
many  who  have  found  great  difficulty  in  adjusting  them- 
selves to  the  new  and  peculiar  life.  The  most  energetic  and 
capable  of  our  people,  as  well  as  the  most  vicious  and  corrupt, 
have  seen  larger  opportunity  for  success  in  the  city  and  have 
left  better  home-life  conditions  to  join  the  city  throngs. 

The  modern  city  is  essentially  a  center  of  trade  and  indus- 
try, and  home  life  and  home  conditions  must  inevitably  be 
determined  and  conditioned  by  this  fact.  The  increasing 
specialization  in  all  fields  of  labor  has  divided  the  people  into 
dozens  of  more  or  less  clearly  defined  classes,  and  the  in- 
creasing centralization  of  trade  and  industry  has  concen- 
trated business  in  the  hands  of  a  relatively  small  number  of 
people.  All  standards  of  business  efficiency  indicate  that  this 
should  be  the  case,  but  as  a  result  of  it  the  small  merchant 
and  employer  are  fast  giving  way  to  large  mercantile  and 
commercial  concerns.  No  longer  can  a  man  save  up  a  few 
thousand  dollars  and  start  in  business  for  himself  with  much 
chance  of  success.  The  employee  tends  to  remain  an  em- 
ployee; the  wage-earner  tends  to  remain  a  wage-earner. 
New  discoveries  and  improved  machinery  and  methods  have 
greatly  increased  the  complexity  of  the  industrial  process 
in  all  lines  of  work,  and  the  worker  in  every  field  of  trade  and 
industry  tends  more  and  more  to  become  a  cog  in  the  ma- 
chine, and  to  lose  sight  of  his  part  in  the  industrial  processes 
and  his  place  in  our  industrial  and  civic  and  national  life. 

The  effect  of  such  conditions  on  the  family  has  been  very 
noticeable,  and  in  some  respects  very  unfortunate.  Under 
the  older  village  and  rural-life  conditions  a  large  family  was 
an  asset,  as  every  boy  and  girl  could  help  about  the  house 
and  farm  from  an  early  age.  In  doing  this  they  received 
much  valuable  education  and  training.  City  life,  though, 
has  changed  a  large  family  from  an  asset  to  a  serious  liability, 
and  the  result  is  shown  in  the  large  number  of  small  or  child- 


350  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

less  families  found  there.  Only  among  the  foreign-born  and 
in  rural  communities  does  one  any  longer  find  large  families 
common.  The  native  American,  and  the  more  thoughtful 
citizen  generally,  tends  to  limit  the  size  of  his  family  to  the 
few  children  he  can  clothe  and  educate  according  to  his 
standard  of  life. 

Changes  in  the  character  of  home  life.  As  a  result  of  the 
changes  of  living  incident  to  the  change  from  an  agricultural 
to  an  industrial  society,  and  the  rapid  development  of  city- 
life  conditions,  the  home  life  has  greatly  altered  in  character. 
Once  it  was  a  center  where  the  rudiments  of  almost  all  the 
trades  and  industries  of  life  were  practiced,  and  where  both 
boy  and  girl  obtained  many  valuable  life  experiences.  In 
the  villages,  blacksmiths,  wagon-makers,  cabinet-makers, 
harness-makers,  shoemakers,  millers,  and  saw-mill  workers 
carried  on  most  of  the  fundamental  trades.  In  their  small 
establishments  the  complete  industrial  processes  were  car- 
ried through,  and  could  be  seen  and  learned.  In  the  homes 
girls  were  taught  to  sew,  make  hats  and  clothing,  cook,  bake, 
wash,  iron,  mend,  and  clean  the  house.  On  the  farm  the  boy 
learned  to  plant,  cultivate,  and  reap  the  crops,  care  for  and 
feed  the  horses  and  stock,  watch  and  learn  to  read  the  signs 
of  the  weather,  mend  wagons  and  harness,  make  simple  re- 
pairs, and  go  to  town  on  errands.  The  boy  in  town  as  well 
had  the  daily  "chores"  to  attend  to. 

These  conditions,  within  the  past  half-century,  have 
largely  passed  away.  Since  about  1890  the  process  of  change 
has  been  particularly  rapid.  The  farm  is  no  longer  the  center 
of  industry  it  used  to  be.  Purchases  at  city  stores  supply 
much  that  formerly  required  hand  labor.  Both  the  farmer 
and  his  wife  have  been  freed  from  much  that  used  to  consti- 
tute the  drudgery  of  life,  and  have  been  given  much  new  time 
to  read  and  think  and  travel.  In  the  villages  the  small  arti- 
sans and  their  apprentices  have  almost  completely  disap- 
peared. Wagons  now  come  from  South  Bend,  furniture  is 
made  largely  in  Grand  Rapids,  harness  comes  largely  from 
New  York  State,  and  shoes  from  the  cities  of  eastern  Mas- 


NEW  MODIFYING  FORCES  351 

sachusetts,  while  flour  is  ground  in  large  mills  in  a  few  in- 
dustrial centers.  The  telephone,  the  delivery  wagon,  the 
elevator,  gas  and  electricity,  running  water,  the  bakery  and 
delicatessen  shop,  the  steam  laundry,  and  the  large  depart- 
ment store  have  taken  from  children  their  "chores"  and 
from  their  parents  much  hard  labor.  As  a  result  homes  in 
our  cities  have  come  to  be  little  more  than  places  where 
families  eat  and  sleep  and  children  grow  up. 

There  are  many  compensating  advantages,  it  must  be 
remembered,  for  the  losses  the  home  has  sustained.  Chil- 
dren grow  up  under  much  more  sanitary  conditions  than 
formerly,  are  better  cared  for,  have  far  greater  educational 
advantages  provided  for  them,  learn  much  more  from  their 
surroundings,  are  not  so  overworked,  and  have  opportuni- 
ties which  children  did  not  have  in  an  earlier  day.  Still,  a 
boy  or  girl  under  modern  living  conditions  has  so  little  of  the 
old-fashioned  home-life,  so  little  useful  manual  activity,  and 
acquires  so  much  information  through  the  eye  and  the  ear 
and  the  senses  and  so  little  by  actual  doing,  that  the  problem 
of  providing  a  proper  environment  and  education  for  town 
and  city  children,  and  of  utilizing  their  excess  leisure  time  in 
profitable  activities,  has  become  one  of  the  most  serious  as 
well  as  one  of  the  most  difficult  social  and  educational  prob- 
lems now  before  us. 

_  „  The  home,  nevertheless,  has  gained.  Despite  the  con- 
centration of  industry  and  business  in  the  hands  of  a  small 
percentage  of  our  people,  the  virtual  abolition  of  apprentice- 
ship, the  concentration  of  manufacturing  in  large  establish- 
ments where  specialized  labor  is  the  rule,  and  the  prevalence 
of  much  poverty  and  wretchedness  among  certain  classes  of 
our  people,  society  as  a  whole  is  by  no  means  the  worse  for 
the  change,  and  in  particular  the  poor  have  not  been  grow- 
ing poorer.  The  drudgery  and  wasteful  toil  of  life  have 
been  greatly  mitigated.  People  have  leisure  for  personal 
enjoyment  previously  unknown.  The  trolley-car,  the  auto- 
mobile, and  the  "movies"  have  brought  rest,  recreation,  and 
enjoyment  to  millions  of  people  who  in  previous  times  knew 


352  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

only  work,  and  whose  pleasures  consisted  chiefly  of  neighbor- 
hood gossip,  church  attendance,  and  drink.  Wages  have 
increased  faster  than  the  cost  of  living,  the  advantages  of 
education  have  been  multiplied  and  extended,  health  condi- 
tions in  home  and  shop  and  town  are  better  than  ever 
known  before,  much  more  is  done  for  people  by  the  corpora- 
tions and  the  State  than  formerly,  and  the  standard  of  com- 
fort for  those  even  in  the  humblest  circumstances  has  ad- 
vanced beyond  all  previous  conception.  The  poorest  work- 
man to-day  can  enjoy  in  his  home  lighting  undreamed  of  in 
the  days  of  tallow  candles,  warmth  beyond  the  power  of  the 
the  old  smoky  soft-coal  grate,  kitchen  conveniences  and  an 
ease  in  kitchen  work  that  our  New  England  forefathers  prob- 
ably would  have  thought  sinful,  and  sanitary  conditions  and 
conveniences  beyond  the  reach  of  the  wealthiest  even  half 
a  century  ago.  If  the  owner  of  the  poorest  tenement  house 
in  our  cities  to-day  were  to  install  the  kind  of  plumbing 
which  was  good  enough  for  George  Washington,  we  should 
lock  him  up.  The  family  as  a  unit  has  gained  tremendously 
by  the  changes  of  the  past  forty  to  fifty  years;  the  losses 
have  come  to  the  children  and  to  society  and  government. 
Weakening  of  the  old  educative  influences.  As  an  ac- 
companiment of  the  far-reaching  nature  of  these  recent 
changes  in  the  character  of  our  living  and  of  our  population, 
there  has  followed  a  general  weakening  of  the  old  social 
customs  and  traditions  which  once  exercised  so  strong  a 
restraining  and  educative  influence  on  the  young.  Children 
formerly,  much  more  than  now,  were  taught  reverence, 
courtesy,  respect,  proper  demeanor,  obedience,  honesty, 
fidelity,  and  virtue,  and  both  boys  and  girls  were  trained  in 
useful  employments.  The  Church,  too,  was  a  much  more 
potent  factor  in  the  lives  of  both  old  and  young  than  it  is 
to-day.  The  young  were  trained  to  go  to  Sunday  School 
and  Church,  and  Sunday  was  observed  as  a  day  of  rest  and 
religious  devotion.  The  minister  was  generally  respected 
and  looked  up  to  by  both  parents  and  children.  A  religious 
sanction  for  conduct  was  often  set  forth.     Communities 


NEW  MODIFYING  FORCES  S5S 

were  small  and  homogeneous  in  character,  and  every  one's 
actions  were  every  one's  business.  The  community  code  of 
conduct  and  community  sentiment  exercised  strong  re- 
straints. The  positive  convictions  of  the  older  members 
served  to  check  the  tendencies  toward  waywardness  in  both 
boys  and  girls,  while  the  number  of  opportunities  to  go 
wrong  were  much  fewer  than  they  are  to-day.  Along  cer- 
tain lines  these  early  restraining  influences  were  highly  edu- 
cative, served  to  keep  many  a  boy  and  girl  in  the  path  of 
rectitude,  and  helped  to  train  them  for  an  honest  and  a 
respectable  life. 

Changes  that  have  taken  place.  In  some  of  our  smaller 
and  older  communities  these  conditions  still  in  part  persist, 
though  much  modified  by  the  character  of  present-day  life, 
but  in  the  cities,  towns,  and  the  newer  parts  of  the  country 
these  older  educative  influences  and  traditions  have  largely 
broken  down,  or  have  entirely  ceased  to  exist.  The  little 
homogeneous  communities,  with  their  limited  outlook  and 
local  spirit,  have  been  changed  in  character  by  the  coming 
of  a  much  more  cosmopolitan  population,  semi-urban  condi- 
tions, and  a  much  freer  and  easier  life.  The  Church  has  lost 
much  of  its  hold  and  influence  over  the  young,  and  fre- 
quently the  parents  give  it  only  nominal  allegiance.  Thou- 
sands of  children  are  growing  up  to-day  without  any  kind  of 
religious  training,  and  the  former  general  knowledge  of  Bib- 
lical history  and  characters  has  largely  passed  away.  New 
sects  and  religions,  as  well  as  new  nationalities  and  races  of 
people,  have  come  among  us,  and  within  a  generation  the 
character  of  Sunday  observance  has  greatly  changed.  The 
attitude  of  the  people  generally  toward  the  old  problems  has 
been  materially  altered.  Parents  everywhere  are  less  strict 
than  they  used  to  be.  The  discipline  of  the  young  in  obe- 
dience and  proper  demeanor  is  no  longer  fashionable,  and 
the  attitude  of  thousands  of  communities  to-day,  as  ex- 
pressed in  their  life,  their  newspapers,  their  city  govern- 
ment, and  their  general  failure  to  enforce  obedience  to  law,  is 
really  opposed  to  righteousness  and  good  citizenship.     The 


354  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

home,  altogether  too  often,  is  unintelligent  and  neglectful 
in  the  handling  of  children,  and  not  infrequently  it  has  ab- 
dicated entirely  and  turned  the  whole  matter  of  the  educa- 
tion and  discipline  of  the  young  over  to  the  public  school  to 
handle. 

The  effect  of  all  these  changes  in  our  mode  of  living  is 
written  large  on  our  national  life.  The  social  and  industrial 
revolutions  which  we  have  experienced  have  been  far- 
reaching  in  their  consequences.  The  home  and  life  condi- 
tions of  an  earlier  period  are  gone,  never  to  return.  This 
country  has  passed  through  that  stage  of  its  national  de- 
velopment. Instead,  we  now  form  a  part  of  a  new  and 
vastly  more  complex  world  civilization,  in  competition  with 
the  best  brains  of  all  mankind,  with  a  great  and  an  ever- 
increasing  specialization  of  human  effort  taking  place  on  all 
sides,  and  with  new  and  ever  more  difficult  social,  commer- 
cial, industrial,  educational,  and  human-life  problems  await- 
ing solution.  We  have  given  up  our  earlier  isolation  and 
independence,  —  social,  political,  and  industrial,  —  and 
have  become  dependent  even  for  the  necessities  of  life  upon 
the  commerce  of  remote  regions  and  distant  peoples.  For 
us  the  world  has  become  both  larger  and  smaller  than  it  used 
to  be,  and  its  parts  are  linked  up  with  our  future  welfare  to 
an  extent  never  known  before.  The  Spanish  War  did  much 
to  destroy  our  earlier  isolation  and  independence;  the  great 
World  War  has  cast  us  upon  the  middle  of  the  world  stage. 

IV.  Effect  of  these  Changes  on  the  School 

New  national  needs  make  new  demands.  It  is  impossible 
to  understand  the  present  complexity  of  American  public 
education,  and  the  many  new  lines  of  educational  effort  be- 
ing put  into  practice  in  our  schools,  except  in  the  light  of  the 
great  social  and  industrial  and  home-life  changes  of  the  past 
half-century  which  we  have  just  traced.  It  is  these  vast 
and  far-reaching  social  and  industrial  and  home-life  changes 
which  have  been  behind  the  changes  in  direction  which  our 
public  schools  have  taken  during  the  past  quarter  of  a  cen- 


NEW  MODIFYING  FORCES  355 

tury,  and  which  underlie  the  most  pressing  problems  in  edu- 
cational readjustment  of  the  present.  It  is  as  true  to-day 
as  when  public  schools  began  that  the  nature  of  the  national 
need  must  determine  the  character  of  the  education  pro- 
vided. As  civilization  increases  in  complexity,  education 
must  broaden  its  activities  and  increase  in  efficiency. 

Our  schools  are  essentially  time-  and  labor-saving  devices, 
created  by  us  to  serve  democracy's  needs.  To  convey  to 
the  next  generation  the  knowledge  and  accumulated  experi- 
ence of  the  past,  important  as  this  may  be,  we  now  see  is 
neither  the  only  nor  the  chief  function  of  public  education. 
Instead,  our  schools,  within  the  past  quarter-century,  have 
been  asked  to  prepare  their  children  more  definitely  for  per- 
sonal usefulness  in  life,  and  the  future  citizen  more  directly 
for  the  to-morrow  of  our  complex  national  and  international 
existence.  Instead  of  mere  teaching  institutions,  engaged 
in  imparting  book-information  and  imposing  discipline,  our 
schools  have  been  asked  to  grasp  the  significance  of  their 
social  relationships,  to  transform  themselves  more  fully  into 
institutions  for  the  improvement  of  democracy,  and  to  pre- 
pare the  young  who  attend  them  for  greater  social  efficiency 
by  teaching  more  that  is  directly  useful  and  by  training 
them  better  for  citizenship  in  a  democracy  such  as  ours. 

A  new  lengthening  of  the  period  of  dependence.  As 
modern  city-life  conditions  have  come  more  and  more  to  sur- 
round both  boys  and  girls,  depriving  them  of  the  training 
and  education  which  earlier  farm  and  village  life  once  gave, 
the  school  has  been  called  to  take  upon  itself  the  task  of 
giving  training  in  those  industrial  experiences  and  social  ac- 
tivities which  once  formed  so  important  a  part  of  the  edu- 
cation of  American  youths.  With  the  breakdown  of  the  old 
home  and  village  industries,  the  passing  of  the  old  "chores," 
and  the  coming  of  the  factory  system  and  city-life  conditions, 
it  has  come  to  be  desirable  that  children  should  not  engage 
in  productive  labor.  On  the  contrary,  all  recent  thinking 
and  legislation  have  been  opposed  to  their  doing  so.  Both 
the  interests  of  organized  labor  and  the  interests  of  the 


856 


EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 


Wages  of  Two  Groups  of  Brooklyn  Citizens 


Those  who 

Those  who 

left  school  at 

left  school  at 

14; 

18: 

Yearly  Salary 

Yearly  Salary 

When  14  years  of  age 

$200 

m 

i  0 

250 

0 

"     16     

350 

_50p_ 

..     18     ..      .«    .. 

475 

T^mm 

M     20     "      "     " 

575 

1,000 

"     22     ' 

mummmm 

600 

1,150 

"     24 ' 

SKK^^BSa 

688 

1,550 

M     25     "       "    " 

^■^^^■■■^ 

Total  Salary  11  years 

$5,112.50 

Total  Salary   7  years 

$7,337.50 

Nation  have  set  against  child-labor.  Even  from  an  economic 
point  of  view,  all  studies  which  have  been  made  as  to  the 
money-value  of  an  education  have  shown  the  importance 
of  children  remaining  in  school  as  long  as  they  are  able  to 
use  with  advantage  the  educational  opportunities  provided. 

It  has  at  last  come 
to  be  a  generally  ac- 
cepted principle  that 
it  is  better  for  chil- 
dren and  for  society 
that  they  should  re- 
main in  school  until 
they  are  at  least  six- 
teen years  of  age. 
As  a  result,  child  life 
everywhere  has  re- 
cently experienced 
a  new  lengthening 
of  the  period  of  de- 
pendence and  train- 
ing, and  all  national 
interests  now  indi- 
cate that  the  period 
devoted  to  prepar- 
ing for  life's  work  should  be  further  lengthened  rather  than 
shortened. 

Everywhere  the  right  of  the  State  to  compel  communities 
to  maintain  not  only  the  old  common  school,  but  special 
types  of  schools  and  advanced  training,  has  been  asserted 
and  sustained  by  the  courts.  Conversely,  the  corollary  to 
this  assertion  of  authority,  the  right  of  the  State  to  compel 
children  to  partake  of  the  educational  advantages  provided, 
has  also  been  asserted  and  sustained  by  the  courts. 

New  social  and  national  problems.  As  our  social  life  ha? 
become  broader  and  more  complex,  a  longer  period  of  guid' 
ance  has  become  necessary  to  prepare  for  proper  participa 
tion  in  it.  As  our  industrial  life  has  become  more  diversified, 


Fig.  63.  What  Four  Years  in  School  paid 

Notice  that  at  twenty-five  years  of  age  the  better-educated 
boys  are  receiving  $900  per  year  more  salary  and  have  al- 
ready, in  seven  years,  received  $2250  more  than  the  boys 
who  left  school  at  fourteen  years  have  received  for  eleven 
years'  work.  (From  a  United  States  Bureau  of  Education 
chart  at  the  Panama  Pacific  Exposition,  based  on  a  study 
by  the  Brooklyn  Teachers'  Association.) 


NEW  MODIFYING  FORCES  357 

its  parts  narrower,  and  its  processes  more  concealed,  new 
and  more  extended  training  has  been  called  for  to  prepare 
the  worker  for  his  task,  to  reveal  to  him  something  of  the  in- 
tricacy and  interdependence  of  our  modern  social  and  indus- 
trial life,  and  to  point  out  to  him  the  necessity  of  each  man's 
part  in  the  social  and  industrial  whole.  With  the  ever- 
increasing  subdivision  and  specialization  of  labor,  the  danger 
from  class  subdivision  has  been  constantly  increasing,  and 
more  and  more  has  been  thrown  upon  the  school  the  task 
of  instilling  into  all  a  social  and  political  consciousness  that 
will  lead  to  unity  amid  our  great  diversity,  and  to  united  ac- 
tion for  the  preservation  and  improvement  of  our  democratic 
institutions.  As  large  numbers  of  the  foreign-born  have 
come  to  our  shores,  and  particularly  from  countries  where 
general  education  is  not  common  and  where  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  conception  of  law,  order,  government,  and  public  and 
private  decency  do  not  prevail,  a  new  and  still  greater  bur- 
den has  been  placed  on  all  the  educative  forces  of  society  to 
try  to  impart  to  these  new  peoples,  and  their  children,  some- 
thing of  the  method  and  the  meaning  of  our  democratic  life. 
As  the  children  of  these  new  classes  have  crowded  into  our 
public  schools,  our  school  systems  have  been  compelled  to 
pay  more  attention  to  the  needs  of  these  new  elements  in 
our  population,  and  to  direct  their  attention  less  exclusively 
to  satisfying  the  needs  of  the  well-to-do  classes  of  society. 
Education  has  in  consequence  recently  turned  away  still 
more  from  its  earlier  aristocratic  nature,  and  has  become 
more  and  more  democratic  in  character.  It  is  only  as  schools 
serve  as  instruments  for  the  perpetuation  and  improvement 
of  our  democratic  life  that  the  general  education  of  all  at 
public  expense  can  be  justified. 

Beginnings  of  the  change.  The  period  following  1860  was 
a  period  of  internal  reorganization  of  our  elementary  educa- 
tion. As  has  been  shown,  the  school  then  became  more 
clearly  conscious  of  itself,  and  reorganized  its  teaching  work 
along  lines  dictated  by  the  new  psychology  of  instruction 
which  had  come  to  us  from  abroad.    The  thorough  adoption 


358  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

of  this  new  psychological  point  of  view  covered  the  period 
from  1860  up  to  about  1900.  Beginning  back  about  1880 
to  1885,  however,  our  schools  began  to  experience  a  new  but 
steady  change  in  purpose  and  direction  along  the  lines  of 
the  new  social  and  democratic  forces,  though  it  is  only  since 
about  1900  that  any  marked  and  rapid  changes  have  set  in. 

EAGLE  SCHOOL  TREMQMT  SCHOOL 

23  ■Albanian..  10 
3l  Armenian.,  lo 
2 1  Bohemian.  1 10 
26  ■  English. 
01  French ....  1 1 
6|  German....  I 

91  Greek |U 

22flHebrev....|l 
lUl  Hungarian .  B20 
Italian.. .022 
01  Lithuanian  117 

il  Horee 10 
I  Polish  ..•HHHBBUnHBHHHBBHBDBi*6'3 

31  Roumanian  •  10 ^^^ 

16 H  Russian  •  •  •  MWtll  lltilll  MUA  UlilililWlMWIWi'^H 
2|Ruthenian.Bl9 

Ol  Scotch |U 

01  Servian . . .  1 1 

Slovak  . . .    ■■!  ■■■■111— —  *Zt 
If  I  Slovenian.  1 1 
0J  Spanish... 1 2 
89  BBSB  Syrian....  10 

21  Welsh 10 

2|Yiddifch...|U 

653  |  Totals  .  .  "1776 

Fig.  64.  Distribution  by  Nationalities  op  Pupils  in  two 
Elementary  Schools  in  Cleveland 

From  Miller's  The  School  and  the  Immigrant  Child,  p.  34.    Cleveland  Foundation  Survey 
Volume.    Reproduced  by  permission. 

The  old  limited  book-subject  curriculum,  both  elementary 
and  secondary,  could  no  longer  meet  the  changing  character 
of  our  national  life,  and  new  studies  began  to  be  introduced. 
Drawing,  clay  modeling,  color  work,  nature-study,  sewing, 
cooking,  and  manual  training  were  introduced  here  and  there 
into  city  elementary  schools,  and  the  sciences  and  the  man- 
ual and  home  arts  into  the  high  schools.  This  was  done 
despite  the  objections  of  many  conservative  teachers  and 
citizens,  and  much  ridicule  from  the  public  press.  Many 
spoke  sneeringly  of  the  new  subjects  as  representing  the 


NEW  MODIFYING  FORCES  359 

"fads  and  frills"  of  education,  but  they  slowly  made  a  place 
for  themselves  and  have  ever  since  remained.  The  cities, 
as  in  practically  all  other  educational  advances,  were  the 
leaders  in  introducing  these  new  subjects  and  in  attempting 
to  transform  their  schools  from  mere  disciplinary  institu- 
tions, where  drill  was  given  in  the  mastery  of  the  rudiments 
of  knowledge,  into  institutions  of  democracy  calculated  to 
train  for  useful  service  in  the  office,  the  shop,  and  the  home, 
and  intended  to  prepare  young  people  for  intelligent  par- 
ticipation in  the  increasingly  complex  social  and  political 
life  of  our  democratic  society. 

At  first  these  new  studies  were  introduced  as  experiments, 
and  came  in  as  new  drill  and  disciplinary  studies.  Their 
introduction  was  generally  defended  on  disciplinary  grounds. 
An  attempt  also  was  made  to  organize  a  definite  psychological 
procedure  for  instruction  in  each,  as  had  recently  been  done 
for  the  older  fundamental  subjects.  In  consequence  these 
new  subjects  for  a  time  made  but  slow  headway,  and  the  re- 
sults obtained  were  not  always  what  had  been  expected. 

The  work  of  John  Dewey.  The  foremost  interpreter,  in 
educational  terms,  of  the  great  social  and  industrial  changes 
through  which  we  have  passed,  and  the  one  who  has  done 
more  since  1895  to  think  out  and  state  for  us  an  educational 
philosophy  suited  to  the  changed  and  changing  conditions 
in  our  national  life,  is  John  Dewey  (1859-  ),  for  many 
years  head  of  the  School  of  Education  at  the  University 
of  Chicago,  but  more  recently  Professor  of  Philosophy  at 
Columbia  University.  His  work,  both  experimental  and 
theoretical,  has  tended  both  to  psychologize  and  socialize 
American  education ;  to  give  to  it  a  practical  content,  along 
scientific  and  industrial  lines;  and  to  interpret  to  the  child 
the  new  social  conditions  of  modern  society  by  connecting  the 
activities  of  the  school  closely  with  those  of  real  life.  Believ- 
ing that  the  public  school  is  the  chief  remedy  for  the  ills  of 
society,  he  has  tried  to  change  the  work  of  the  school  so  as  to 
make  it  a  miniature  of  society  itself.  Social  efficiency,  and 
not  mere  knowledge,  he  conceives  to  be  the  end,  and  this 


360  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

social  efficiency  is  to  be  produced  through  participation  in 
the  activities  of  an  institution  of  society,  the  school.  The 
different  parts  of  the  school  system  thus  become  a  unified 
institution,  in  which  children  are  taught  how  to  live  amid 
the  complexities  of  modern  social  life. 

Education,  therefore,  in  Dewey's  conception,  involves 
not  merely  learning,  but  play,  construction,  use  of  tools,  con- 
tact with  nature,  expression,  and  activity,  and  the  school 
should  be  a  place  where  children  are  working  rather  than 
listening,  learning  life  by  living  life,  and  becoming  ac- 
quainted with  social  institutions  and  industrial  processes  by 
studying  them.  The  work  of  the  school  is  in  large  part  to 
reduce  the  complexity  of  modern  life  to  such  terms  as  chil- 
dren can  understand,  and  to  introduce  the  child  to  modern 
life  through  simplified  experiences.  Its  primary  business 
may  be  said  to  be  to  train  children  in  cooperative  and  mutu- 
ally helpful  living.  The  virtues  of  a  school,  as  Dewey  points 
out,  are  learning  by  doing;  the  use  of  muscles,  sight  and  feel- 
ing, as  well  as  hearing;  and  the  employment  of  energy,  origi- 
nality, and  initiative.  The  virtues  of  the  school  in  the  past 
were  the  colorless,  negative  virtues  of  obedience,  docility, 
and  submission.  Mere  obedience  and  the  careful  perform- 
ance of  imposed  tasks  he  holds  to  be  not  only  a  poor  pre- 
paration for  social  and  industrial  efficiency,  but  a  poor 
preparation  for  democratic  society  and  government  as  well. 
Responsibility  for  good  government,  with  us,  rests  with  all, 
and  the  school  should  prepare  for  the  political  life  of  to-mor- 
row by  training  its  pupils  to  meet  responsibilities,  develop- 
ing initiative,  awakening  social  insight,  and  causing  each  to 
shoulder  a  fair  share  of  the  work  of  government  in  the  school. 

Remarkable  progress  since  1898.  The  Spanish-American 
War  of  1898  served  to  awaken  us  as  a  Nation  and  to  shake 
us  out  of  our  earlier  national  isolation  and  contentment. 
Among  other  things  it  revealed  to  us  something  of  the  posi- 
tion we  should  probably  be  called  upon  to  occupy  in  world 
affairs.  Both  it  and  the  Russo-Japanese  War  which  fol- 
lowed served  particularly  to  concentrate  attention  on  the 


NEW  MODIFYING  FORCES  361 

advantages  of  general  education,  as  it  was  "  the  man  behind 
the  gun"  who  won  in  each  war.  For  the  two  decades  fol- 
lowing the  Spanish-American  War  our  country  experienced 
an  unprecedented  period  of  industrial  development  and 
national  prosperity,  while  the  immigration  of  peoples  further 
removed  from  our  racial  stock  reached  a  maximum.  The 
specialization  of  labor  and  the  introduction  of  labor-saving 
machinery  took  place  to  an  extent  before  unknown;  city 
conditions  became  even  more  complex  and  potentially  more 
dangerous;  villages  grew  more  urban,  and  a  more  cosmopoli- 
tan attitude  began  to  pervade  our  whole  life;  the  national 
feeling  was  intensified;  and  the  national  and  state  govern- 
ments were  called  upon  to  do  many  things  for  the  benefit  of 
the  people  never  attempted  before. 

In  consequence,  since  1898,  public  education  has  awak- 
ened a  public  interest  before  unknown.  Since  1900  the 
Southern  States  have  experienced  the  greatest  educational 
awakening  in  their  history  —  an  awakening  to  be  compared 
with  that  of  Mann  in  Massachusetts  and  Barnard  in  Con- 
necticut and  Rhode  Island.  Everywhere  state  educational 
commissions  and  city  school  surveys  have  evidenced  a  new 
critical  attitude  on  the  part  of  the  public.  Much  new  edu- 
cational legislation  has  been  enacted;  permission  has  been 
changed  to  obligation;  minimum  requirements  have  been 
laid  down  by  the  States  in  many  new  directions;  and  new 
subjects  of  instruction  have  been  added  by  law.  Courses 
of  study  have  been  entirely  made  over,  and  new  types  of 
textbooks  have  appeared.  The  democratic  American  high 
school  has  been  transformed  into  a  truly  national  institution. 
New  normal  schools  have  been  founded,  and  higher  re- 
quirements have  been  ordered  for  those  desiring  to  teach. 
College  departments  of  education  have  increased  from  nine 
in  1890  (first  permanent  chair  in  1873)  to  something  like 
four  hundred  to-day.  Private  gifts  to  colleges  and  univer- 
sities have  exceeded  anything  known  before  in  any  land. 
School  taxes  have  been  increased,  old  school  funds  have  been 
more  carefully  guarded,  and  new  constitutional  provisions 


362  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

as  to  education  have  been  added.  Compulsory  education 
has  begun  to  be  a  reality,  and  child-labor  laws  to  be  enforced. 
A  new  interest  in  child-welfare  and  child-hygiene  has  arisen, 
evidencing  a  commendable  desire  to  look  after  the  bodies 
as  well  as  the  minds  of  our  children.  The  education  of  the  de- 
fective and  the  delinquent,  and  the  education  of  the  foreign- 
born  everywhere,  have  received  new  attention.  In  recent 
years  a  new  and  an  extensive  national  interest  in  agricultural, 
industrial,  vocational,  and  household  education  has  become 
clearly  evident.  However  much  we  may  have  lost  interest 
in  the  old  problems  of  faith  and  religion,  the  American  people 
has  come  to  believe  thoroughly  in  education  as  the  best 
means  for  the  preservation  and  advancement  of  the  na- 
tional welfare.  In  the  chapters  which  follow  the  changes 
and  additions  and  expansions  which  have  accompanied  the 
educational  evolution  of  the  past  quarter-century  will  be  set 
forth  in  some  detail. 

QUESTIONS  FOR  DISCUSSION 

1.  Show  how  the  fact  that  all  the  earlier  immigrants,  except  the  Irish, 
came  from  lands  which  had  accepted  the  Protestant  Reformation 
ideas  as  to  education  made  their  assimilation  easier. 

t.  Explain  why  the  recent  South  and  East  of  Europe  immigration  has 
served  to  dilute  our  national  stock,  and  weaken  and  corrupt  our 
political  life. 

3.  Show  how  we  have  left  the  problem  of  adult  assimilation  largely  to 
the  labor  unions  and  the  political  boss. 

4.  Canada  allowed  Quebec  to  retain  its  French  language  on  entering  the 
Union  of  Canada,  with  bad  results.  Show  what  might  have  been  the 
result  had  we  allowed  Pennsylvania  to  remain  a  German-language  State. 

5.  Why  is  it  much  more  dangerous  when  any  foreign  element  collects 
in  colonies  than  if  it  scatters? 

6.  Show  why  the  extensive  changes  in  home  life  since  1860  have  neces- 
sitated a  different  type  of  education,  and  changed  the  large  family 
from  an  asset  to  a  liability. 

7.  What  are  the  effects  of  the  foreign-born  tenant  farmer  on  rural  social 
life  and  the  rural  school? 

8.  It  is  often  stated  that  the  coming  of  so  many  foreign-born  to  America 
has  tended  to  decrease  the  size  of  native  American  families.  Why 
should  it? 

9.  Show  bow  the  vast  industrial  and  commercial  development  has  tended 


NEW  MODIFYING  FORCES  368 

to  limit  individual  opportunities,  and  made  broader  education  for  all 
necessary. 

10.  Show  how  the  elimination  of  waste  and  drudgery  and  disease  has 
also  made  larger  educational  opportunities  desirable. 

11.  How  do  you  account  for  the  change  in  the  character  of  home  training 
and  discipline? 

12.  Would  schools  have  advanced  in  importance  as  they  have  done  had 
the  industrial  revolution  not  taken  place?    Why? 

13.  Why  is  more  extended  education  called  for  as  "industrial  life  becomes 
more  diversified,  its  parts  narrower,  and  its  processes  more  con- 
cealed?" 

14.  Point  out  the  social  significance  of  the  educational  work  of  John 
Dewey. 

15.  Explain  why  the  social  and  national  changes  since  the  Spanish  Amer- 
ican War  should  have  led  especially  to  the  expansion  of  the  high 
school. 

16.  Point  out  the  value,  in  the  new  order  of  society,  of  each  group  of 
school  subjects  listed  on  page  370. 

SELECTED  REFERENCES 

Betts,  Geo.  H.  Social  Principles  of  Education.  318  pp.  Chas.  Scribner'9 
Sons,  New  York,  1912. 

Chapter  V,  on  institutional  modes  of  experience,  forms  quite  simple  collateral  reading 
for  this  chapter. 

Bogart,  E.  L.  The  Economic  History  of  the  United  States.  522  pp.  Long- 
mans, Green  &  Co.,  New  York,  1908. 

Part  IV  gives  a  very  good  sketch  of  agricultural  and  industrial  development  since 
1860. 

*Commons,  John.  Races  and  Immigrants  in  America.  242  pp.  The 
Macmillan  Co.,  New  York,  1907. 

A  very  readable  volume.    Chapters  I  to  IV  and  IX  are  especially  valuable  as  supple* 
mental  to  this  chapter. 

*Dewey,  John.  The  School  and  Social  Progress.  ISO  pp.  University  of 
Chicago  Press.     1899. 

Lecture  I,  on  the  School  and  Social  Progress,  is  an  excellent  statement  of  the  problem. 

Draper,  A.  S.  "The  Adaptation  of  Schools  to  Industry  and  Efficiency," 
in  Proceedings  of  the  National  Education  Association,  1908,  pp.  65-78. 

A  good  article  on  elementary-school  waste,  and  the  lack  of  balance  and  adaptation  to 
national  needs  of  elementary-school  programs  of  study. 

*Ellis,  A.  C.  The  Money  Value  of  Education.  52  pp.  Illustrated  by 
charts.  United  States  Bureau  of  Education,  Bulletin  No.  22,  Wash- 
ington, 1917. 

A  very  valuable  document  showing  the  relation  of  education  to  individual  success. 


864  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

Ellwood,  C.  A.    Sociology  and  Modern  Social  Problems.    394  pp.    2d  ed.; 
American  Book  Co.,  New  York,  1913. 

Chapter  VIII,  on  the  problem  of  the  modern  family;  Chapter  X,  on  the  immigration 
problem;  and  Chapter  XII,  on  the  problem  of  the  modern  city,  form  good  supplemental 
reading  along  the  lines  of  part  of  this  chapter. 

*Fletcher,  H.  J.    "Our  Divided  Country";  in  Atlantic  Monthly,  vol.  117, 
pp.  223-33.     (Feb.,  1916.) 

An  excellent  article  on  the  problem  of  the  assimilation  of  our  foreign-born. 

Gibbins,  H.  de  B.     Economic  and  Industrial  Progress  of  the    Century. 
594  pp.     Chambers,  London,  1901. 

A  well- written  volume  on  the  progress  made  by  the  world  during  the  nineteenth 
century. 

Hyde,  Wm.  deW.     "Social  Mission  of  the  Public  School";  in  Educational 
Review,  vol.  12,  pp.  221-35.     (Oct.,  1896.) 
An  old,  but  a  very  good  article. 

Roberts,  Peter.    Immigrant  Races  in  North  America.    109  pp.    Y.M.C.A. 
Press,  New  York,  1910. 

A  brief  and  important  volume,  classifying  and  describing  our  immigrant  people. 

♦Ross,  E.  A.     The  Old  World  in  the  New.     327  pp.     Century  Co.,  New 
York,  1914. 

An  excellent  work,  classifying  and  describing  the  larger  immigrant  groups.  Chapters 
9-11,  on  the  economic,  social,  and  political  effects  of  immigration,  particularly  good  and 
useful. 

*Ross,  E.  A.    "The  Value  Rank  of  the  American  People";  in  Independent, 
for  Nov.  10,  1904.    Also  in  his  Foundations  of  Sociology,  chap.  xi. 
Characteristics;  education;  decimation;  dilution. 

Smith,  W.  R.    Introduction  to  Educational  Sociology.    412  pp.    Houghton 
Mifflin  Co.,  Boston,  1917. 

Chapter  IV,  on  the  family,  good  on  the  losses  and  new  demands. 

*Suzzallo,  Henry.     "Education  as  a  Social  Study";  in  School   Review, 
vol.  16,  pp.  330-40.    (May,  1908.) 

An  excellent  article  on  education  and  democracy. 

U.S.  Census  Bureau.   A  Century  of  Population  Growth.     303  pp.     Wash- 
ington, Government  Printing  Office,  1909. 

A  very  valuable  volume,  covering  the  changes  from  1790  to  1900. 

Warne,  F.  J.     The  Immigrant  Invasion.     335  pp.     Dodd,  Mead  &  Co., 
New  York,  1913. 

An  illustrated  and  very  interesting  description  of  the  older  and  newer  immigrants. 


CHAPTER  Xn 

NEW  EDUCATIONAL  CONCEPTIONS  AND  EXTENSIONS 

I.  New  Conception  of  the  Educational  Process 
The  old  knowledge  conception.  Our  earlier  school  work 
was  carried  on  on  the  unexpressed  assumption  that  children 
were  alike  in  needs  and  capacities,  and  that  the  training 
necessary  for  citizenship  and  life  consisted  in  their  acquiring 
certain  book-knowledge  which  the  school  sought  to  impart. 
While  some  children  were  able  to  remain  longer  in  school 
than  were  others,  and  consequently  could  climb  higher 
on  the  educational  ladder,  the  type  of  training  while  ascend- 
ing the  ladder  was  practically  the  same  for  all.  Only  in  the 
high  school  were  some  options  allowed.  The  knowledge 
aim,  as  we  have  seen,  everywhere  dominated  instruction. 
Knowledge  and  civic  virtue  came  to  be  regarded  as  some- 
what synonymous,  and  disciplinary  drill  was  the  main  pur- 
pose of  the  teaching  process. 

The  psychological  conception  of  the  educational  process, 
evolved  between  1860  and  1890,  also  was  based  on  an  as- 
sumption that  the  mind  could  be  trained  by  a  uniform  pro- 
cedure. By  means  of  selected  subject-matter,  now  to  be 
psychologically  organized  and  presented,  teachers  would  be 
able  to  drill  the  attention,  will,  memory,  imagination,  feel- 
ings, judgment,  reasoning,  ability  in  observation  and  sense 
discrimination,  and  other  "powers  of  the  mind,"  and  thus 
awaken  the  egoistic  and  social  feelings,  stimulate  the  higher 
M-ntiments,  and  develop  the  moral  character  of  the  children 
so  taught.  By  such  means  the  citizenship-aim  of  education 
would  be  realized.  The  mind  of  the  child  was  conceived 
of  as  consisting  of  a  number  of  more  or  less  water-tight  com- 
partments, or  "faculties,"  the  drilling  of  which  was  the  busi- 
ness of  education. 


366  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

Courses  of  instruction  were  now  much  more  minutely  out- 
lined than  before;  the  work  for  each  grade  was  quite  definitely 
laid  down;  the  kind,  amount,  and  order  of  subject-matter 
to  be  learned,  by  all  pupils  in  all  parts  of  the  city,  and  regard- 
less of  age,  past  experience,  future  prospects,  or  physical  or 
mental  condition,  was  uniformly  prescribed  for  all;  and  the 
examination  test  at  the  end  of  the  term  became  the  almost 
uniform  proof  that  what  had  been  outlined  had  or  had  not 
been  mastered.  Such  courses  of  study  and  such  conceptions 
of  the  educational  process  came  to  be  the  prevailing  type 
between  about  1870  and  1890,  and  are  still  found  here  and 
there  in  cities  and  villages  which  have  not  been  touched  by 
the  newer  conceptions  of  education. 

Newer  conceptions  of  educational  work.  From  the  dis- 
cussion in  the  preceding  chapter,  regarding  changed  social, 
industrial,  and  national  conditions,  the  reader  will  have  seen 
why  such  a  knowledge  conception  of  education  ultimately 
must  give  way  to  newer  and  sounder  ideas  as  to  the  nature 
and  purpose  of  public  education.  To  meet  the  newer  con- 
ditions of  our  national  life  not  only  must  the  direction  of 
educational  effort  be  changed,  but  also  the  education  of  dif- 
ferent classes  of  children  must  take  somewhat  different 
directions. 

Beginning  here  and  there,  back  in  the  decade  of  the  eighties, 
and  becoming  a  clearly  defined  movement  after  about  1900, 
new  courses  of  study  and  teaching  directions  appeared  which 
indicated  that  those  responsible  for  the  conduct  of  the  school 
systems  were  actuated  by  new  conceptions  as  to  the  nature 
and  purpose  of  the  educational  process.  Recognizing  that 
the  needs  of  society  and  the  community  were  ever  changing 
and  growing,  and  that  the  needs  of  pupils,  both  by  classes 
and  individually  varied  much,  the  courses  which  were  then 
outlined  came  to  include  alternatives  and  options,  and  to 
permit  variations  in  the  work  done  in  different  rooms  and 
schools.  The  excess  of  drill  which  had  characterized  earlier 
school  work  came  to  be  replaced  by  lessons  in  subjects  in- 
volving expression  and  appreciation,  such  as  art,  music, 


NEW  EDUCATIONAL  CONCEPTIONS  367 

manual  work,  domestic  training,  play,  and  humane  educa- 
tion; the  kindergarten  and  the  kindergarten  spirit  began  to 
effect  changes  in  the  character  of  the  work  of  the  receiving 
class  and  of  the  first  grade  or  two  of  the  elementary  school; 
the  discipline  of  the  school  everywhere  became  milder,  and 
pupil-cooperation  schemes  for  training  in  self-control  arose; 
subjects  which  prepared  better  for  efficient  participation  in 
the  work  of  democratic  society,  such  as  hygiene,  community 
civics,  industrial  studies,  and  thrift,  were  added;  the  social 
relationships  of  the  classroom  and  school  were  directed, 
through  studies  in  conduct  and  manners,  toward  the  prep- 
aration of  more  socially  efficient  men  and  women;  and  the 
commercial  and  industrial  life  of  the  community  began  to 
be  utilized  to  give  point  to  the  instruction  in  manual  train- 
ing, local  history,  civics,  geography,  and  other  related  studies. 

The  main  duty  of  the  teacher,  under  these  newer  courses, 
came  to  be  that  of  guiding  and  directing  the  normal  proc- 
esses of  thought  and  action  on  the  part  of  the  pupils,  of 
extending  their  appreciation  in  new  directions,  of  connecting 
the  work  of  the  school  with  life  in  a  better  way,  of  widening 
the  horizons  of  the  thinking  and  the  ambitious  among  the 
children,  and  of  stimulating  them  to  develop  for  themselves 
larger  and  better  ideals  for  life  and  service.  Instead  of  being 
fixed  and  largely  finished  products,  this  new  type  of  courses 
of  study  remained  plastic,  to  be  changed  in  any  direction 
and  at  any  time  that  the  best  interests  of  the  children  might 
seem  to  require. 

The  new  center  of  gravity.  The  most  marked  change  be- 
tween this  newer  type  of  course  of  study  and  the  older  type 
was  the  shifting  of  the  center  of  gravity  from  that  of  the  sub- 
ject-matter of  instruction  to  that  of  the  child  to  be  taught. 
The  children  of  a  particular  community  who  presented  them- 
selves for  education,  and  not  the  more  or  less  traditional 
subject-matter  of  instruction,  now  came  to  be  the  real  edu- 
cational problem.  The  school,  in  consequence,  began  to 
change  from  that  of  a  place  where  children  prepare  for  life 
by  learning  certain  traditional  things,  to  a  place  where  chil- 


368  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

dren  live  life  and  are  daily  brought  into  contact  with  such 
real  industrial,  social,  community,  and  life  experiences  as 
will  best  prepare  them  for  the  harder  problems  of  living 
which  lie  just  ahead. 

Viewed  from  the  angle  of  child  needs  and  child  welfare  the 
school  became  a  new  institution.  Knowledge  now  came  to 
be  conceived  of  as  life  experience  and  inner  conviction,  and 
not  as  the  memorization  of  the  accumulated  learning  of  the 
past;  as  a  tool  to  do  something  with,  and  not  as  a  finished 
product  in  itself.  It  came  to  be  seen  that  facts  possess  but 
little  real  importance  until  they  have  been  put  to  use.  Child 
welfare  and  social  welfare  were  perceived  to  be  closely  inter- 
twined. To  train  children  for  and  to  introduce  them  into 
membership  in  the  little  community  of  which  they  form  a 
part,  and  from  this  to  extend  their  sense  of  membership 
outward  to  the  life  of  the  State,  the  Nation,  and  to  world 
civilization;  to  awaken  guiding  moral  impulses;  to  fill  them 
with  the  spirit  of  service;  and  to  train  them  for  effective  self- 
direction;  —  these  became  the  great  tasks  of  the  modern 
school. 

The  teacher  in  the  new  type  of  school.  The  teacher  under 
the  earlier  type  of  school  was  essentially  a  drill  master  and 
a  disciplinarian.  It  was  his  business  to  see  that  his  pupils 
learned  what  was  set  before  them,  and  to  keep  order.  In 
the  period  between  1860  and  1900  it  came  to  be  conceived 
of  as  the  teacher's  chief  function  so  to  impart  the  selected 
subject-matter  of  instruction  as  to  introduce  it  to  the  mind 
of  the  child  by  the  most  approved  psychological  procedure. 
The  function  of  the  teacher,  though  rendered  much  more 
important,  still  remained  that  of  an  instructor  rather  than 
that  of  a  guide  to  instruction. 

While  retaining  both  of  these  earlier  aims  as  important 
—  drill  where  drill  is  needed,  and  proper  psychological  pro- 
cedure in  the  teaching  process  —  the  newer  conceptions  as 
to  school  work  went  beyond  either  of  these  earlier  aims. 
Both  principals  and  teachers  came  to  be  expected  to  think 
over  their  work  of  instruction  in  the  light  of  their  local  prob- 


NEW  EDUCATIONAL  CONCEPTIONS  S6d 

lems,  with  a  view  to  adapting  and  adjusting  the  school  work 
to  the  particular  needs  and  capacities  of  the  pupils  to  be  in- 
structed. Teaching  now  becomes  a  finer  art  and  a  still  more 
difficult  psychological  process  than  before.  Individual  re- 
sults, as  well  as  group  results,  now  were  aimed  at.  The 
teacher  proposed  problems  to  the  pupils,  and  then  guided 
them  in  examining  and  studying  them.  Problems  involving 
life-situations  became  of  greatest  value.  In  each  case  the 
solving  became  the  main  thing;  not  the  memorizing  of  some 
one  else's  solution. 

Both  principals  and  teachers  now  came  to  stand  as  stim- 
uli to  individual  activity,  as  whetstones  upon  which  those 
stimulated  could  bring  their  thinking  to  a  keener  edge,  and 
as  critics  by  whose  help  young  people  might  develop  their 
ability  to  reason  accurately  and  well.  The  aim  of  instruc- 
tion became  that  of  fitting  young  people,  by  any  means 
suited  to  their  needs  and  capacities,  to  meet  the  responsi- 
bilities of  life;  to  train  them  to  stand  on  their  own  feet;  to 
develop  in  them  the  ability  to  do  their  own  thinking;  and 
to  prepare  them  for  civic  and  social  efficiency  in  the  na- 
tional life  of  to-morrow. 

The  spirit  of  the  modern  school.  Such,  in  brief,  are  the 
actuating  motives  which  have  come  to  underlie  the  work  of 
the  efficiently  directed  modern  school.  The  school  often  falls 
far  short  of  such  ideals  in  the  results  it  is  able  to  achieve, 
but  such  at  least,  consciously  or  unconsciously,  are  the  actu- 
ating motives  of  its  work.  Its  aim  is  not  mere  knowledge, 
except  as  knowledge  will  be  useful;  not  mental  discipline, 
of  the  drill  sort,  but  a  discipline  of  the  whole  life;  not  a  head 
full  of  facts,  but  a  head  full  of  ideas;  not  rules  of  conduct 
learned,  but  the  ability  to  conduct  one's  self  properly;  not  a 
pupil  knowing  civics,  but  one  who  can  think  over  civic  ques- 
tions; and  not  so  much  a  learned  as  a  well-trained  output. 

Through  community  civics,  studies  in  science  and  indus- 
trv,  studies  of  community  life,  the  study  of  community 
health  problems,  studies  of  home  needs,  domestic  science, 
manual  training,  drawing,  music,  thrift  training,  manners 


370  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

and  conduct,  play  and  games,  as  well  as  through  a  reorgan- 
ization and  redirection  of  the  work  in  the  older  subjects  — 
arithmetic,  geography,  language  study,  literature,  history 
—  the  modern  school  aims  to  train  pupils  for  greater  social 
usefulness  and  to  give  them  a  more  intelligent  grasp  of  the 
social  and  industrial,  as  well  as  the  moral  and  civic,  structure 
of  our  modern  democratic  life.  * 

The  studies  which  have  come  to  characterize  the  modern 
elementary  school  may  now  be  classified  under  the  following 
headings : 


Drill  Subjects 

Content  Subjects 

Expression  Subjects 

Reading 

Literature 

Kindergarten  Work 

Writing 

Geography 

Music 

Spelling 

History 

Manual  Arts 

Language 

Civic  Studies 

Domestic  Arts 

Arithmetic 

Manners  and  Conduct 

Plays  and  Games 

Nature  Study 

School  Gardening 

Agriculture 

Vocational  Subjects 

The  order  of  arrangement  is  not  only  almost  the  order  of  the 
historical  introduction  of  the  different  subjects  into  the  ele- 
mentary school,  but  the  three  groups  also  represent  the 
three  great  periods  of  our  elementary  school  development. 
The  drill  subjects  characterized  the  earlier  school;  the  con- 
tent subjects,  excepting  the  last,  the  period  of  development 
between  1860  and  1890;  and  the  expression  subjects  the 
modern  elementary  school  development. 

II.  Necessary  Adjustments  and  Differentiations 
The  average  child.  Up  to  relatively  recently  all  our 
school  work  has  been  adjusted  to  meet  the  needs  of  the  so- 
called  "average  child."  As  children  of  average  capacity 
usually  do  reasonably  well  under  courses  of  study  con- 
structed with  average  needs  in  view,  the  results  for  a  long 
time  were  not  noticeably  bad.  Teachers  tried  hard  to  bring 
all  their  pupils  "up  to  grade."  Those  who  could  not  master 
the  subject-matter  were  in  time  promoted  anyway,  while  the 
bright  pupils  marked  time.     The  teacher  naturally  labored 


NEW  EDUCATIONAL  CONCEPTIONS 


371 


most  with  those  who  had  the  most  difficulty  with  their 
studies.  The  figure  below  shows  the  results  of  such  instruc- 
tion in  a  city  where  the  courses  of  study  and  the  promotional 
plans  were  arranged  and  carried  out  to  meet  the  needs  of  the 
great  mass  of  the  city's  children.     The  great  bulk  of  the 


' ,  ■• '    ';••"•,  ':"■.    " 

^^ 

Retarded,  \5J2% 

Normal      Rate      of     Progreea,      70.4* 

Accelerated,      1 
14.4*            | 

Fig.  65.  Promotional  Results  in  a  City  Following  a  Course  of 
Study  adjusted  to  the  Average  Capacity  of  the  Pupils 

From  Cubberley's  Public  School  Administration,  p.  295. 

pupils,  it  will  be  seen,  made  normal  progress,  while  approxi- 
mately equal  percentages  were  ahead  and  behind  their 
grade.  In  an  average  school  of  42  pupils  in  that  city,  6 
would  be  ahead  of  grade,  29  on  grade,  and  7  below  grade. 
This  represents  what  may  still  be  said  to  be  an  average  and 
a  tolerably  satisfactory  condition.  In  many  school  systems 
the  percentage  of  retarded  pupils  is  much  higher,  and  the 
number  who  are  ahead  much  lower  than  in  the  school  sys- 
tem here  shown. 

Children  whom  average  courses  do  not  fit.  For  some  of 
the  children,  though,  it  has  been  found  that  some  or  all  of 
the  school  work  either  is  too  difficult,  or  is  entirely  unsuited 
to  their  needs.  As  a  result  they  fail  to  make  proper  progress, 
and  gradually  drop  farther  and  farther  behind.  In  the  city 
shown  in  the  diagram,  15.2  per  cent  of  the  children  were  in 
this  class.  One  often  finds  such  children  two,  three,  or  four 
years  over  age  for  their  grades,  and  accomplishing  little  in 
school  that  is  of  value  to  them.  On  the  other  hand,  for 
some  children  the  work  is  entirely  too  easy.  Such  children 
can  do  their  school  work  in  short  time  and  without  half  try- 
ing, and  in  consequence  fall  into  habits  of  idleness  by  not 


372  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

being  worked  to  capacity.  Often,  too,  these  more  capable 
children  are  held  back  by  teachers,  in  part  because  their 
capacity  is  not  recognized,  and  in  part  to  keep  their  grade 
progress  nearer  to  their  age  progress.  The  result  is  that 
they  are  actually  retarded,  even  though  they  are  "up  to 
grade." 

The  effect  of  uniform  and  average  courses  of  study  on 
both  classes  of  children  has  been  found  to  be  distinctly  bad. 
On  the  one  hand,  the  pupils  who  are  held  for  years  in  the 
lower  grades  instead  of  advancing,  too  large  for  their  seats, 
often  unfit  associates  for  the  smaller  children,  and  usually 
accomplishing  little  because  the  school  work  is  too  difficult 
for  them  or  is  not  suited  to  their  needs,  are  being  prepared 
by  the  school  to  join  the  ranks  of  the  inefficient  and  unsuc- 
cessful and  dissatisfied  in  our  working  world.  When  one 
considers  with  what  a  meager  life-equipment  these  young 
people  eventually  leave  school,  and  what  a  poor  preparation 
they  have  for  social  efficiency  or  intelligent  citizenship,  the 
bad  results  of  unsuitable  school  work  become  evident.  If 
the  school  can  do  better  by  these  children  it  is  its  duty,  as  a 
social  institution,  to  do  so.  To  learn  to  succeed  is  one  of  the 
purposes  of  going  to  school.  On  the  other  hand,  bright 
children  are  held  back  when  they  ought  to  be  put  into  more 
advanced  work,  better  suited  to  their  needs  and  more  likely 
to  awaken  their  interest  and  enthusiasm.  To  learn  to 
dawdle  and  loaf  is  not  the  purpose  of  education. 

We  thus  see  that  we  really  have  at  least  three  well-recog- 
nized groups  or  types  of  children  in  our  schools  with  which 
to  deal  —  the  below-average,  the  average,  and  the  above- 
average.  While  these  three  classes  have  in  a  way  for  a  long 
time  been  recognized,  it  is  only  relatively  recently  that  we 
have  begun  to  pay  any  particular  attention  to  the  needs  of 
the  two  non-average  groups.  For  some  time  we  continued 
to  educate  the  average  child,  hoping  to  bring  the  slower 
pupil  up  by  a  little  extra  attention,  and  letting  the  bright 
child  rather  shift  for  himself. 

Flexible  grading  and  promotion  plans.    The  earliest  and 


NEW  EDUCATIONAL  CONCEPTIONS  373 

most  common  attempt  to  remedy  conditions  arising  from 
the  discovery  that  uniform  courses  of  study  were  not  fully 
adjusted  to  the  needs  of  all,  was  along  the  lines  of  coaching 
the  backward  children  by  an  assistant  teacher.  This  plan 
goes  back  to  the  days  of  the  usher,  or  assistant  teacher 
(p.  229),  and  in  its  modern  form  was  employed  by  Colonel 
Parker  at  Quincy,  Massachusetts,  in  the  late  seventies,  and 
still  later  was  more  fully  applied  at  Batavia,  New  York. 

Sept.       Oct.       Xov.      Dec.       Jan.       Feb.       Mar.      Apr.      May       June 


Fig.  66.  The  Batavia  Plan 

Showing  a  half-year's  progress  for  all  pupils  under  this  plan.  The  coaching  of  the  slow 
pupils  by  the  assistant  teacher  makes  this  equality  of  progress  possible.  In  North  Denver  this 
plan  was  reversed,  the  assistant  teacher  working  with  the  brighter  pupils.  (From  Cubber- 
ley's  Public  School  Administration,  p.  302.) 

The  Batavia  form  became  known,  and  about  ten  years  ago 
was  tried  in  many  parts  of  the  United  States.  The  plan 
is  well  shown  in  the  above  drawing.  The  idea  was  to  use 
the  assistant  teacher  to  coach  the  laggards  and  bring  them 
up  to  grade,  so  that  all  might  be  promoted  together. 

The  next  plan  tried  was  that  of  breaking  up  the  yearly 
grade  system,  which  we  had  evolved,  so  as  to  make  promo- 
tion easier  and  more  frequent.  The  essential  feature  of  this 
plan  consisted  in  providing  semi-annual,  or  even  quarterly 
promotions,  so  that  children  might  be  advanced  one  half  or 
one  quarter  of  a  year's  work,  or  be  set  back  that  amount, 
as  conditions  might  seem  to  indicate  as  desirable.  This 
provided  two  grades,  an  A  and  B,  for  each  school  year,  and 
pupils  failing  of  promotion  need  repeat  only  a  half-year  in- 
stead of  a  whole  year  of  school  work.  Both  of  these  ideas 
were  put  into  use  after  about  1875  to  1880,  and  the  semi- 
annual promotion  has  since  become  an  established  institu- 


374  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

tion  in  our  American  schools.  The  Batavia  plan  has  met 
with  only  limited  favor. 

Since  about  1900  the  problem  has  been  approached  from  a 
different  angle,  by  the  organization  of  what  are  variously 
known  as  supplementary  classes,  over-age  classes,  or  ungraded 
classes,  one  or  more  such  classes  being  provided  for  in  each 
large  school  building.  To  such  classes  are  sent  the  over- 
aged,  the  "left-overs,"  those  behind  due  to  illness  or  ab- 
sence, those  who  need  special  coaching  to  enable  them  to 
understand  some  school  subject  or  to  make  up  some  defi- 
ciencies, or  those  ahead  and  about  ready  to  jump  a  grade. 
Such  pupils  may  remain  in  such  classes  all  day,  or  only  dur- 
ing the  time  they  are  receiving  extra  teaching,  and  for  only  a 
few  weeks  or  for  quite  a  long  time.  For  pupils  for  whom 
such  classes  are  adapted  they  render  the  double  service  of 
instructing  them  better  and  of  relieving  the  regular  class 
teacher  of  their  care.  Their  purpose  is  not  only  to  make  the 
graded  system  more  flexible,  and  thus  break  up  somewhat 
the  so-called  "lock-step"  of  the  public  school,  but  also  to 
meet  the  needs  of  both  the  dull  and  the  bright  children,  by 
providing  special  instruction  better  adapted  to  their  stage 
of  progress  than  is  the  regular  instruction  of  the  average 
school  grade.  As  a  matter  of  experience  the  brighter  chil- 
dren usually  receive  but  little  direct  help  from  such  classes,  as 
they  are  used  almost  entirely  for  the  dull  or  retarded  pupils. 
The  average  pupils  who  remain  with  the  grade  teacher  re- 
ceive better  instruction  because  the  more  time-consuming 
cases  have  been  removed  from  the  room. 

Parallel  courses  of  study.  None  of  these  plans,  however, 
make  any  specific  provision  for  the  regular  advancement  of 
the  pupils  capable  of  going  ahead  much  faster  than  the 
average.  Since  about  1895  the  wants  of  this  class  have  been 
somewhat  recognized,  and  a  number  of  different  plans  have 
been  evolved  and  put  into  operation,  in  different  parts  of  the 
United  States,  the  purpose  of  which  has  been  to  provide 
better  for  the  needs  of  the  brighter  pupils  in  the  school. 
The  address  of  President  Eliot,  of  Harvard,  before  the  Na- 


NEW  EDUCATIONAL  CONCEPTIONS 


375 


tional  Education  Association,  in  1892,  on  "Undesirable  and 
Desirable  Uniformity  in  Schools,"  did  much  to  stimulate 
thinking  as  to  the  desirability  of  providing  better  for  the 
needs  of  the  more  capable  children.  The  uniformity  in 
grading  and  promotion  he  condemned  as  "suppressing  indi- 
vidual differences  instead  of  developing  them  and  leaving 


A 

1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

7 

8 

Basal 

Course 

1     5 

!     3 

4 

■ 

G 

7 

8 

D 

10 

11 

12 

13 

M 

15 

1G 

17 

IS 

10 

20 

21 

22 

23 

8  Years 

B 

Parallel 

1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

G 

7 

8 

0 

10 

11 

12 

13 

14 

15 

16 

17 

Course 

6  Years 

1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

Fig.  67.  The  New  Cambridge  Plan 

Two  parallel  elementary-school  courses,  with-one  third  more  work  assigned  for  each  year  in 
Course  B  than  in  Course  A.   (From  Cubberley's  Public  School  Administration,  p.  304.) 

individual  capacities  undiscovered  and  untrained,  thus  rob- 
bing the  individual  of  happiness  and  serviceableness,  and 
society  of  the  fruits  it  might  have  enjoyed  from  the  special 
endowments  of  thousands  of  its  members.' ' 

The  Cambridge,  Massachusetts,  plan,  shown  in  the  above 
drawing,  is  a  1910  revision  of  a  still  earlier  plan  inaugurated 
there  to  meet  such  needs  as  President  Eliot  had  described. 
The  essential  features  of  it  are  two  parallel  courses  of  study, 
one  of  eight  years  for  the  average  pupil,  and  a  parallel  course 
of  six  years  in  length  for  the  gifted  pupil,  with  natural  trans- 
fer points  which  make  it  possible  for  a  pupil  to  take  any 
amount  of  time  from  six  to  eight,  or  even  more,  years  to 
complete  the  course.  The  Cambridge  plan  is  typical  of  a 
number  of  somewhat  similar  parallel-course  plans  which 
have  been  evolved,  the  purpose  of  all  of  which  has  been  to 
enable  the  more  capable  pupils  to  advance  more  rapidly. 

Differentiated  courses  of  study.  About  1898  an  exper- 
iment was  begun  at  Baltimore,  by  Superintendent  Van 


376 


EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 


High  School 

Promotion  By 

subjects. 

Mftny  courses  of 

different  types 


Intermediate 
School 

Promotion  by 
subjects. 

Academic.  Business 
Household-Arts,  and 
Vocational  Courses 


u 


L3  pQ   B3 

ft  g  d 

B  P  4 

o  || 


B  «' 


s  3 


s  a 

«  2 

4£ 

| 

ST 

'5 


Sickle,  and  about  the  same 
time  a  somewhat  similar  one 
was  tried  for  a  short  time 
at  Santa  Barbara,  California, 
both  of  which  were  very 
important  viewed  from  the 
standpoint  of  the  best  inter- 
ests of  our  democratic  life. 
Similar  experiments  have  since 
been  tried  and  are  still  in  use 
in  a  number  of  places.  The 
essential  idea  underlying  each 
is  that  children  are  different 
not  only  in  mental  capacity 
but  in  future  possibilities  as 
well;  that  they  fall  roughly 
into  three  groups  —  the  slow, 
the  average,  and  the  gifted; 
that  a  course  of  study  for 
each  group  should  be  worked 
out  which  is  up  to  but  not 
beyond  the  capacities  of  the 
pupils  of  each  group  to  accom- 
plish; that  transfer  from  one 
group  to  the  other,  in  either 
direction,  should  be  easy;  that 
during  the  first  six  years  of 
school  life  the  courses  should 
vary  in  the  amount  of  work 
done,  but  not  in  the  time  con- 
sumed; and  that,  after  this 
preliminary  sorting  period, 
the  largest  possible  opportu- 
nities should  be  given  to  the 
gifted  group  to  move  rapidly, 
take  extra  studies,  and  enjoy 
extra  educational  advantages, 


NEW  EDUCATIONAL  CONCEPTIONS  377 

the  other  groups  at  the  same  time  not  being  neglected.  The 
adjoining  diagram  shows  the  nature  of  these  plans. 

The  prime  idea  underlying  these  differentiated  courses 
has  been  that  of  providing  better  advantages  for  gifted 
children,  and  as  such  they  are  among  the  most  interesting 
experiments  for  the  improvement  of  democracy  that  have 
been  made.  No  form  of  government  is  so  dependent  on 
intelligence  as  is  a  democracy.  Instead  of  having  leaders 
trained  for  us  in  separate  schools,  as  in  continental  Europe 
(see  Fig.  51,  page  268),  they  must  with  us  come  from  among 
the  mass  of  our  citizenship.  A  democracy,  too,  is  especially 
in  need  of  leaders  to  guide  the  mass,  and  it  is  from  among 
its  gifted  children  that  the  leaders  must  be  drawn.  The 
future  welfare  of  this  Nation  depends,  in  no  small  degree, 
upon  the  right  education  of  our  gifted  children.  The  de- 
gree to  which  our  civilization  moves  forward  depends  largely 
upon  the  work  of  creative  thinkers  and  leaders  in  science, 
trades,  industry,  government,  education,  art,  morality,  and 
religion.  Moderate  ability  can  follow,  or  can  imitate,  but 
superior  ability  must  point  the  way. 

Differentiated  classes  and  schools.  The  flexible-grading 
idea  may  be  said  to  have  become  common  by  1890,  and 
parallel  and  differentiated  courses  of  study  for  elementary 
pupils  have  been  introduced  almost  entirely  since  1900. 
Largely  since  1900,  too,  we  have  seen  the  establishment  of 
a  number  of  special  types  of  classes  or  schools  to  meet  the 
educational  needs  of  these  different  classes  of  children. 
Realizing  that  the  three  large  groups  could  not  include  all 
classes  in  need  of  special  training,  our  school  systems  have 
begun  the  organization  of  special  classes  to  meet  the  peculiar 
needs  of  small  percentages  of  their  children. 

In  a  few  places  special  classes  for  gifted  children  have  been 
organized,  though  most  of  this  special  educational  effort  has 
been  placed  at  the  other  end  of  the  scale.  Among  such 
extra  educational  efforts  may  be  mentioned  classes  for  chil- 
dren markedly  over  age,  these  children  often  being  ad- 
vanced into  selected  upper-class  and  high-school  work  be- 


878  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

cause  of  their  age,  and  regardless  of  their  failure  to  be  pro- 
moted; special  classes  for  non-English-speaking  children, 
to  teach  them  the  use  of  the  language;  ship  schools,  in  the 
ports,  to  train  boys  for  the  sea,  and  at  the  same  time  impart 
to  them  a  general  elementary  school  training;  industrial 
classes,  where  certain  types  of  industrial  work  are  substi- 
tuted for  academic  branches  less  useful  and  particularly 
difficult  for  such  types  of  children;  special  art  and  music 
schools,  where  pupils  showing  special  aptitude  for  drawing 
or  music  may  receive  special  attention;  and  home  schools, 
where  girls  of  upper  grammar-school  age  may  receive  special 
preparation  for  home-keeping. 

The  effect  of  the  introduction  of  these  specialized  classes 
has  been  to  reduce  waste,  speed  up  the  rate  of  production, 
and  increase  the  value  of  the  output  of  our  schools.  The 
condition  of  our  schools  before  about  1890,  and  to  a  certain 
degree  this  condition  still  persists,  was  that  of  a  manufactur- 
ing establishment  running  on  a  low  grade  of  efficiency.  The 
waste  of  material  was  great  and  the  output  small  and  costly 
—  in  part  because  the  workmen  in  the  establishment  were 
not  supplied  with  enough  of  the  right  kind  of  tools;  in  part 
because  the  supervision  emphasized  wrong  points  in  manu- 
facture; but  largely  because  the  establishment  was  not 
equipped  with  enough  pieces  of  special  type  machinery, 
located  in  special  shops  or  units  of  the  manufacturing  plant, 
to  enable  it  to  meet  modern  manufacturing  conditions. 
Since  1890,  through  the  introduction  of  flexible  promotions, 
parallel  courses  of  study,  differentiated  courses,  and  special- 
type  classes  and  schools,  we  have  been  engaged  in  improving 
the  business  by  speeding  it  up,  supplying  it  with  new  and 
specialized  machinery,  saving  wastes,  and  increasing  the 
rate  and  the  value  to  society  of  the  output.  The  public 
schools  of  the  United  States  are,  in  a  sense,  a  manufactory, 
doing  a  half-billion  dollar  business  each  year  in  trying  to 
prepare  future  citizens  for  usefulness  and  efficiency  in  life. 
As  such  we  have  recently  been  engaged  in  applying  to  it 
some  of  the  same  principles  of  specialized  production  and 


NEW  EDUCATIONAL  CONCEPTIONS  $70 

manufacturing  efficiency  which  control  in  other  lines  of  the 
manufacturing  business. 

All  these  changes  are  significant  of  the  great  shift  in  direc- 
tion which  has  come  over  American  education  since  the 
decade  of  the  eighties.  Then  every  one  was  talking  about 
subject-matter,  psychological  procedure,  and  the  "faculties" 
of  the  mind,  and  uniformity  in  educational  output  was  the 
prevailing  educational  conception.  The  forty  years  which 
have  elapsed,  with  the  consequent  social  and  industrial  and 
political  changes  through  which  our  Nation  has  passed, 
have  witnessed  a  complete  alteration  in  attitude,  and  the 
child  to  be  educated  has  been  brought  to  the  front  in  our 
educational  thinking.  To-day  child  welfare,  rather  than 
subject-matter,  occupies  the  center  of  the  stage,  while  our 
educational  practice  is  directed  by  a  truer  psychology  than 
the  decade  of  the  eighties  knew. 

III.  The  Education  of  Delinquents 

Compulsory  school-attendance  legislation.  In  the  earlier 
days  of  our  educational  development  we  dealt  with  school 
delinquents  much  as  the  Church  of  the  time  dealt  with  reli- 
gious delinquents.  They  were  simply  left  outside  the  pale. 
As  the  Church  could  not  be  wrong  and  the  difficulty  must  of 
course  lie  with  the  sinner,  so  the  school  felt  itself  to  be  right 
and  the  difficulty  to  be  with  the  children  who  found  the 
school  unattractive  and  did  not  attend.  Both  Church  and 
school  have  since  seen  fit  to  revise  this  judgment,  as  well  as 
their  methods  of  dealing  with  the  young. 

Though  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut  had  had  colonial 
laws  requiring  school  attendance,  these  in  time  fell  into  plis- 
use,  and  the  first  modern  compulsory-attendance  law  was 
enacted  by  Massachusetts,  in  1852.  This  required  all  chil- 
dren between  the  ages  of  eight  and  fourteen  to  attend  school 
for  twelve  weeks  each  year,  six  weeks  of  which  must  be  con- 
itive.  A  number  of  other  States  and  Territories  in  time 
followed  Massachusetts*  lead,  those  before  1885  being  as 
follows: 


380  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

1864.  District  of  Columbia.  1875.  Maine. 
1867.  Vermont.  New  Jersey. 

1871.  New  Hampshire.  1876.  Wyoming  Territory. 
Washington  Territory.  1877.  Ohio. 

1872.  Connecticut.  1879.  Wisconsin. 
New  Mexico  Territory.  1883.  Rhode  Island. 

1873.  Nevada.  Illinois. 

1874.  New  York.  Dakota  Territory. 
Kansas.                                                  Montana  Territory. 
California. 

Six  other  Western  States  and  Territories  were  added  by 
1890,  and  by  1900  nearly  all  the  Northern  and  Western 
States  had  enacted  some  form  of  a  school-attendance  law. 
As  late  as  1890,  though,  but  one  State,  Connecticut,  had 
required  attendance  at  school  during  the  entire  period  the 
schools  were  in  session.  All  the  other  States  had  followed 
the  Massachusetts  plan,  requiring  attendance  for  from 
twelve  to  twenty  weeks,  only  a  portion  of  which  need  be 
consecutive. 

Since  1900,  and  due  more  to  the  activity  of  persons  con- 
cerned with  social  legislation  and  those  interested  in  improv- 
ing the  physical  and  moral  welfare  of  children  than  to  edu- 
cators themselves,  there  has  been  a  general  revision  of  the 
compulsory  education  laws  of  our  States  and  the  enactment 
of  much  new  child-welfare  and  anti-child-labor  legislation. 
As  a  result  of  this  the  labor  of  young  children  has  been 
greatly  restricted;  work  in  many  industries  has  been  pro- 
hibited entirely,  because  of  the  danger  to  life  and  health; 
compulsory  education  has  been  extended  in  a  majority  of 
the  States  to  cover  the  full  school  year;  poverty,  or  depend- 
ent parents,  in  many  States  no  longer  serves  as  an  excuse  for 
non-attendance;  often  those  having  physical  or  mental  de- 
fects also  are  included  in  the  compulsion  to  attend,  if  their 
wants  can  be  provided  for;  the  school  census  has  been 
changed  so  as  to  aid  in  the  location  of  children  of  compul- 
sory-school age;  and  special  officers  have  been  authorized  or 
ordered  appointed  to  assist  school  authorities  in  enforcing 
the  compulsory-attendance  and  child-labor  laws.     Having 


NEW  EDUCATIONAL  CONCEPTIONS  381 

taxed  their  citizens  to  provide  schools,  the  States  have  now 
required  the  children  to  attend  and  partake  of  the  advan- 
tages provided.  The  schools,  too,  have  made  a  close  study 
of  retarded  pupils,  because  of  the  close  connection  found  to 
exist  between  retardation  in  school  and  truancy  and  juvenile 
delinquency. 

One  result  of  this  legislation.  One  of  the  results  of  all 
this  legislation  has  been  to  throw,  during  the  past  quarter  of 
a  century,  an  entirely  new  burden  on  the  schools.  These 
laws  have  brought  into  the  schools  not  only  the  truant  and 
the  incorrigible,  who  under  former  conditions  either  left 
early  or  were  expelled,  but  also  many  children  of  the  foreign- 
born  who  have  no  aptitude  for  book  learning,  and  many 
children  of  inferior  mental  qualities  who  do  not  profit  by 
ordinary  class-room  procedure.  Still  more,  they  have 
brought  into  the  school  the  crippled,  tubercular,  deaf,  epi- 
leptic, and  blind,  as  well  as  the  sick,  needy,  and  physically 
unfit.  By  steadily  raising  the  age  at  which  children  may 
leave  school  from  ten  or  twelve  up  to  fourteen  and  sixteen, 
our  schools  have  come  to  contain  many  children  who,  having 
no  natural  aptitude  for  study,  would  at  once,  unless  specially 
handled,  become  a  nuisance  in  the  school  and  tend  to  de- 
moralize schoolroom  procedure.  These  laws  have  thrown 
upon  the  school  a  new  burden  in  the  form  of  public  expec- 
tancy for  results,  whereas  a  compulsory-education  law  can- 
not create  capacity  to  profit  from  education.  Under  the 
earlier  educational  conditions  the  school,  unable  to  handle 
or  educate  such  children,  expelled  them  or  let  them  drop 
from  school  and  no  longer  concerned  itself  about  them;  now 
the  public  expects  the  school  to  get  results  with  them.  Con- 
sequently, within  the  past  twenty-five  years  the  whole  atti- 
tude of  the  school  toward  such  children  has  undergone  a 
change,  and  an  attempt  has  been  made  to  salvage  them  and 
turn  back  to  society  as  many  of  them  as  possible,  trained 
for  some  form  of  social  and  personal  usefulness. 

Enlarging  the  educational  opportunities  of  the  schools. 
With  the  recent  tendency  of  our  States  to  insist  on  the  edu- 


382  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

cation  of  all  children  until  they  are  sixteen  years  of  age,  and 
for  all  the  time  the  schools  are  in  session,  the  need  for  modi- 
fications in  schoolroom  procedure  to  meet  the  needs  of  the 
children  thus  brought  in  has  recently  become  very  pressing. 
The  result  has  been  not  only  the  establishment  of  differen- 
tiated and  parallel  courses  of  study,  and  special-type  schools, 
but  also,  in  our  better  organized  school  systems,  the  provi- 
sion of  such  a  large  number  of  different  types  of  school  op- 
portunities that  somewhere  in  the  school  system  every  boy 
and  girl  may  find  the  type  of  education  suited  to  his  or  her 
peculiar  needs.  Where  this  cannot  be  done  locally,  due  to 
the  small  size  of  the  school  system,  it  should  be  done  by  the 
county  or  by  the  State.  Otherwise  compulsory-education 
laws  will  only  force  children  into  schools  from  which  they 
will  get  little  of  value  and  in  which  they  will  often  prove 
troublesome,  with  a  resulting  increase  of  over-age  children* 
refractory  cases,  and  corporal  punishment,  and  at  the  same 
time  defeat  the  social  and  citizenship  aims  of  the  schools. 
It  may  cost  more  to  train  such  children  properly  than  it 
does  the  so-called  normal  children,  but  it  is  cheaper  for 
society  in  the  long  run  that  the  schools  should  do  it. 

Double  nature  of  the  problem.  Accordingly  our  schools 
have  undertaken  to  organize  new  types  of  special  classes  to 
meet  these  new  educational  needs,  and  also  to  redirect  some 
of  their  older  instruction.  The  problem  is  a  double  one  — 
first,  that  of  providing  for  the  needs  of  the  classes  forced 
in  or  forced  to  remain;  and  second,  that  of  preventing  the 
development  of  delinquency  among  other  children  of  the 
school. 

For  the  first  class  the  remedy  has  been  found  largely  in  the 
differentiated  courses  of  study  we  have  just  described;  the 
organization  of  elementary  industrial  school  work;  the  or- 
ganization of  non-English-speaking  and  over-age  classes; 
the  liberal  use  of  play  and  school  gardening;  training  in  gov- 
ernment and  self-control;  and  particularly  the  use  of  the 
newer  expression  studies  which  involve  the  elements  under- 
lying the  trades  of  modern  industrial  society.    For  the  sec- 


NEW  EDUCATIONAL  CONCEPTIONS  383 

ond  class  of  children,  those  who  early  exhibit  a  tendency  to 
be  wayward,  the  problem  is  one  of  weighting  down  the 
wrong  path  by  making  it  hard  to  follow,  and  of  lighting  up 
the  right  path  by  giving  to  it  the  rewards  and  social  approval 
of  the  school  as  an  institution. 

New  types  of  schools  needed.  In  addition  to  the  differ- 
entiations in  courses  and  classes,  and  the  new  types  of 
schools  and  instruction,  indicated  above,  the  handling  of 
cases  showing  tendencies  toward  truancy  and  waywardness 
and  incorrigibility  involve  the  creation  of  one  special  type  of 
class  and  two  types  of  central  schools.  The  first  may  be 
organized  in  any  graded  school  building;  the  second  has  been 
organized  in  many  cities,  and  could  be  organized  for  a 
county  as  a  whole.  The  third  has  been  organized  by  a  few 
cities,  and  the  need  could  also  be  met  by  providing  a  few 
state  schools  of  the  type.  These  may  be  described,  briefly, 
as  follows: 

1.  The  disciplinary  class.  A  special  class,  usually  organized  in 
the  regular  school  building,  to  which  refractory  children  of  either 
sex  may  be  assigned  for  an  indefinite  period,  in  part  to  relieve  th« 
regular  classroom  of  these  troublesome  cases,  and  in  part  to  adjust 
the  school  work  and  discipline  to  the  needs  of  such  children.  These 
classes  are  kept  small,  are  individual  in  their  instruction,  are  taught 
by  particularly  capable  teachers,  and  often  have  benches,  tools, 
and  other  equipment  in  the  room  for  teaching  some  of  the  expres- 
sion subjects.  Their  purpose  is  to  handle,  in  an  efficient  and  orderly 
manner,  and  to  turn  back  if  possible  into  the  main  current  of  the 
school,  those  who  have  begun  to  manifest  difficulty  in  fitting  into 
the  work  of  the  ordinary  class.  When  this  cannot  be  done,  the 
pupils  may  later  be  transferred  to  an  industrial,  or  other  type  of 
special  class  or  school. 

2.  The  'parental  school.  To  this  school  those  who  cannot  be  con- 
trolled in  the  disciplinary  classes  may  be  sent.  Incorrigible  pupils 
from  all  the  schools  of  a  county  are  sometimes  sent  to  one  central 
county  parental  school,  or  a  city  and  county  may  unite  in  main- 
taining such  a  school.  Some  of  these  children,  too,  can  be  turned 
back  into  the  regular  current  of  the  school,  but  a  larger  percentage 
than  in  the  disciplinary  classes  will  be  unable  to  profit  there. 
Many  can  best  be  directed  into  the  next  type  of  school. 


384  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

3.  Central  schools  for  peculiar  boys  and  girls.  The  sexes  now  are 
arranged  for  separately,  pupils  are  gathered  into  these  schools 
largely  on  the  basis  of  age,  and  without  regard  to  school-grade 
advancement,  and  the  effort  is  to  discover  in  what  lines  such  pecu- 
liar children  may  be  made  useful  to  society.  Such  schools  empha- 
size instruction  in  music,  industrial  art,  manual  and  domestic 
activities,  play,  dramatics,  and  group-organization  and  construc- 
tional and  pre- vocational  activities.  Some  of  the  pupils  later  can 
be  sent  to  a  regular  trade  school,  public  or  private,  while  many 
will  pass  out  into  life  at  the  end  of  the  compulsory-school  period. 
For  such  children  instruction  which  leads  toward  such  trades  or 
occupations  as  carpentry,  bricklaying,  plastering,  cement  work, 
plumbing,  electrical  work,  automobile  repairing,  and  acting  as 
chauffeur,  gardener,  waiter,  baker,  cook,  and  seamstress,  has  been 
found  quite  satisfactory. 

State  industrial  schools.  With  a  few  pupils  all  these 
types  of  specialized  instruction  will  fail,  and  such  will  need 
to  be  committed  to  a  state  school  of  a  reformatory  type,  now 
usually  known  as  a  State  Industrial  School.  Of  all  children 
enrolled  in  public  and  private  schools  of  all  kinds  in  the 
United  States,  in  1918,  approximately  1  in  350  was  in  a 
State  Industrial  School.  In  these  schools  the  sexes,  and  in 
the  Southern  States  the  two  races  also,  are  usually  kept  in 
separate  institutions. 

Reformatory  education  is  only  a  century  old.  The  first 
juvenile  reform  school  was  founded  at  Birmingham,  Eng- 
land, in  1817,  and  the  second  was  the  New  York  House  of 
Refuge,  founded  in  1824.  But  few  additional  schools  were 
founded  before  1850,  but  by  1900  there  were  90  such  schools 
in  the  United  States,  and  by  1916  we  had  121  state  in- 
stitutions, with  49,009  boys  and  12,819  girls  who  had  been 
committed  to  them.  Many  of  these  were  illiterate,  and 
many  were  feeble-minded  or  of  low  mentality.  With  the 
latter  class  the  public  school  was  doomed  to  fail  from  the 
first. 

Two  types  of  state  institutions  exist.  The  earlier  institu- 
tions were  almost  entirely  for  the  older  and  more  depraved 
children,  the  commitment  of  some  crime  usually  being  a 


NEW  EDUCATIONAL  CONCEPTIONS  S85 

prerequisite  to  being  sent  to  the  school.  Recently  other 
state  institutions  have  been  founded  to  handle  the  more 
youthful  and  less  serious  offenders,  and  these  cover  much 
the  same  ground  as  the  central  city  schools  for  peculiar  and 
over-age  children,  described  above.  The  idea  in  this  latter 
type  of  school  is  cure  through  reeducation,  rather  than 
confinement  and  punishment. 

The  next  step  in  the  state  system  of  education  for  delin- 
quents is  the  penitentiary  for  youthful  first  offenders.  Such 
institutions  have  recently  been  established  in  a  few  States, 
and  while  not  usually  thought  of  as  being  part  of  the  state 
educational  system,  in  reality  they  should  be  so  considered 
and  conducted. 

IV.  The  Education  of  Defectives 
Change  in  public  attitude.  On  page  271  we  mentioned 
very  briefly  the  beginnings  of  special  instruction  of  the  deaf, 
blind,  and  feeble-minded  in  the  United  States.  At  first  the 
feasibility  of  such  instruction  was  doubted,  the  work  in 
most  cases  began  privately,  and  it  was  some  time  before  our 
people  came  to  see  the  need  for  such  instruction  or  to  be 
willing  to  pay  for  it.  The  first  institutions  were  small,  and 
the  pupils  taught  were  commonly  exhibited  in  public  to 
show  what  could  be  done,  and  to  awaken  interest  in  the 
work. 

Up  to  about  1850  only  a  few  States  had  taken  up  the  con- 
sideration of  the  education  of  their  defective  children,  but 
to-day  the  education  of  defectives  forms  so  important  a  part 
of  the  state's  educational  system  that  no  book  on  public 
education  in  the  United  States  would  be  considered  com- 
plete without  at  least  a  brief  statement  regarding  the  origin 
and  development  of  such  special  schools.  The  change  in 
attitude  toward  educating  such  classes  has  come  about  as  a 
part  of  the  changed  attitude  of  society  on  many  questions 
involving  human  and  social  welfare.  We  now  see  that  it  is 
better  for  the  State,  as  well  as  for  the  unfortunates  them- 
selves, that  they  be  cared  for  properly  and  educated,  as  far 


386  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

as  can  be  done,  for  self-respect,  self-support,  and  some  form 
of  social  usefulness.  An  uneducated  defective  is  a  depend- 
ent on  some  one  or  on  society,  and  finds  but  little  real  enjoy- 
ment in  life;  an  educated  defective  usually  becomes  able  to 
support  and  care  for  himself,  and  sometimes  to  care  for 
others  in  addition.  So  convinced  have  we  at  last  become  of 
the  value  of  education  for  defectives  that  our  American 
States  are  now  somewhat  generally  requiring  the  attendance 
of  defectives,  after  certain  specified  ages,  at  a  state  institu- 
tion or  a  public-school  class  specialized  for  their  training. 


Fig.  69.  Rev.  Thomas  H.  Gallaudet  Teaching  the 
Deaf  and  Dumb 

From  a  bas-relief  on  the  monument  of  Gallaudet,  erected  by 
the  deaf  and  dumb  of  the  United  States,  in  the  grounds  of  the 
American  Asylum,  at  Hartford,  Connecticut. 

Education  of  the  deaf.  The  beginnings  of  this  work  were 
made  at  Hartford,  Connecticut,  in  1817,  by  the  Reverend 
Thomas  H.  Gallaudet.  The  school  opened  with  seven 
pupils,  and  enrolled  thirty-three  during  the  year.  In  1819 
Massachusetts  provided  for  the  education  of  twenty  pupils 
at  Hartford,  at  state  expense,  and  New  Hampshire  and 
Vermont  soon  adopted  the  same  policy.  In  1823  Kentucky 
established  the  first  state  school  for  the  education  of  the 
deaf,  and  Ohio  followed  in  1827.     Each  obtained  teachers 


NEW  EDUCATIONAL  CONCEPTIONS  887 

from  the  Hartford  school.  From  these  beginnings,  the 
movement  has  grown  until  to-day  all  but  five  of  our  Ameri- 
can States  support  one  or  more  special  state  schools  for  the 
education  of  the  deaf.  In  1916  there  were  69  state  schools 
for  the  education  of  the  deaf  in  the  United  States,  with  ap- 
proximately twelve  thousand  pupils  enrolled,  and  with  a 
cost  for  maintenance  of  approximately  $320  per  pupil  per 
year.  In  addition  there  is  maintained  at  Washington  the 
only  institution  for  the  higher  education  of  the  deaf  in  the 
world  —  Gallaudet  College. 

Gallaudet,  in  establishing  his  Hartford  school,  followed 
the  method  he  saw  in  France,  which  was  the  sign  method. 
Among  the  things  which  Horace  Mann  saw  in  German 
lands,  and  commented  upon  favorably  in  his  famous  Seventh 
Report,  was  a  new  method  of  teaching  the  deaf.  This  was 
a  pure  oral  method,  using  speech  and  lip  reading,  and  ex- 
cluding all  signs  and  finger  spelling.  Mann  considered  this 
method  much  superior  to  that  used  in  the  schools  of  the 
United  States.  It  will  be  remembered  that  this  Report  was 
received  with  anything  but  an  open-minded  attitude  (p.  278) 
and  as  the  teachers  of  the  deaf  did  not  agree  with  Mr.  Mann, 
no  change  took  place  until  1867,  when  the  Massachusetts 
legislature  established  the  first  oral-method  school  in  the 
1  nited  States.  This  created  much  opposition  and  discus- 
sion, but  the  method  slowly  made  headway,  and  is  to-day 
the  one  in  general  use  with  all  normal-minded  deaf. 

State  institutions  cannot  conveniently  receive  such  chil- 
dren before  they  are  twelve  years  of  age,  whereas  deaf  chil- 
dren who  are  to  learn  to  speak  and  read  the  lips  should  begin 
to  receive  instruction  at  the  age  of  three  or  four.  In  1869 
the  first  city  day-school  for  the  oral  instruction  of  little  deaf 
children  in  the  United  States  was  organized  in  Boston,  and 
very  appropriately  named  the  Horace  Mann  School.  For 
the  next  twenty  years  there  was  much  controversy  as  to  the 
desirability  of  cities  establishing  such  schools.  In  1890  the 
"  American  Association  to  Promote  the  Teaching  of  Speech 
to  the  Deaf'*  was  organized  in  New  York,  under  the  presi- 


388  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

dency  of  Dr.  Alexander  Graham  Bell,  and  the  influence  of 
this  Society  and  of  Dr.  Bell  on  the  establishment  of  day 
schools  for  the  oral  instruction  of  deaf  children  has  been 
deep  and  lasting.  By  1916,  there  were  seventy-one  cities  in 
fifteen  states  which  maintained,  as  a  part  of  the  city  public 
school  system,  day  schools  where  little  deaf  children  were 
trained  to  speak  and  to  read  the  lips,  and  fitted  for  further 
public  school  education  and  for  social  usefulness  and  happi- 
ness. The  education  of  the  deaf  is  one  of  the  most  difficult 
undertakings  in  our  entire  educational  plan,  but  when  suc- 
cessful the  results  to  society  are  large.  It  has  been  found 
that  normal-minded  deaf  children  can  be  trained  for  any  line 
of  work  which  does  not  involve  hearing. 

Education  of  the  blind.  The  education  of  the  blind  began 
in  France  in  1784,  England  in  1791,  Austria  in  1804,  Prussia 
in  1806,  Holland  in  1808,  Sweden  in  1810,  Denmark  in  1811, 
and  Scotland  in  1812.  The  first  American  institutions  were 
opened  in  Boston  and  New  York  in  1832,  and  Philadelphia 
in  1833.  All  were  private  institutions,  and  general  interest 
in  the  education  of  the  blind  was  awakened  later  by  exhibit- 
ing the  pupils  trained  in  these  institutions  before  legislatures 
and  bodies  of  citizens.  The  first  book  for  the  blind  was 
printed  at  Paris,  in  1786.  In  1873  Congress  began  to  aid 
the  American  Printing  House  for  the  Blind,  at  Louisville, 
Kentucky.  Partly  because  of  this,  and  partly  because  the 
Post-Office  Department  carries  books  for  the  blind  free, 
America  has  printed  more  books  and  built  up  better  libra- 
ries for  the  blind  than  has  any  other  country.  Practically 
all  state  libraries,  and  many  city  libraries,  contain  special 
libraries  for  the  blind. 

As  with  the  deaf,  the  object  in  the  education  of  the  blind 
is  to  change  them  from  dependents  to  self-sustaining  men 
and  women,  and  to  promote  their  happiness  as  well.  They 
are  taught  to  read  from  books  the  print  of  which  consists  of 
a  series  of  raised  points,  the  alphabet  of  which  is  shown  op- 
posite. Besides  learning  to  read,  and  being  instructed  orally 
from  books,  industrial  work  naturally  plays  an  important 


NEW  EDUCATIONAL  CONCEPTIONS  389 

part  in  their  training.  The  chief  industries  in  which  the 
blind  eventually  find  employment  are  basketry,  weaving, 
hammock-making,  carpet-weaving,  cordage  work,  mattress- 
making,  upholstering,  broom-  and  brush-making,  toy-mak- 

a  b  c  d         e  f  gr 


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• 

• 

•  • 

V 

w 

X 

y 

z 

• 

• 

• 

• 

•  • 

• 

•  • 

•  • 

• 

•  • 

•  • 

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Fio.  70. 

The  American  Braille  Alphabet 

FOR  THE 

Blind 

Devised  in  1825,  and  now  used  all  over  the  world.  The  alphabet  is  made 
by  using  parts  of  a  six-point  type  ||  A  letter  is  capitalized  by  prefixing 
to  it  the  two  lower  points,  with  a  little  space  before  the  letter,  thus  for 
capital  B.. :, 

ing,  and  chair-caning,  though  the  wonderful  results  recently 
achieved  in  the  reeducation  of  blinded  soldiers  promises  to 
open  up  many  new  opportunities  and  lines  of  instruction. 
The  blind  showing  musical  talent  are  educated  as  musicians, 
organists,  etc.,  or  as  piano-tuners,  while  still  others  of  special 
ability  become  teachers  and  ministers.  We  have  recently 
had  a  United  States  Senator  who  was  blind.  A  century  ago 
the  blind  were  dependents,  and  the  adult  blind  lived  largely 
in  almshouses;  to-day  most  of  the  normal-minded  blind  care 
for  themselves,  and  some  have  families  of  their  own.  The 
I  ii  i  ted  States  Census  Reports  now  show  relatively  few 
adult  blind  in  almshouses. 

There  are  at  present  fifty -eight  state  or  state-aided  schools 
for  the  blind  in  the  United  States,  and  three  private  schools. 
Ten  cities  also  maintain  one  or  more  schools  for  the  blind  as 


390  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

parts  of  the  city  school  system.  The  first  kindergarten  for 
the  blind  was  established  in  Germany,  in  1861;  and  the  first 
school  for  the  colored  blind  by  North  Carolina,  in  1869. 
The  first  public  city  school  for  the  blind  was  established  by 
New  York  in  1909.  By  1913  this  city  had  opened  eleven  addi- 
tional classes  for  blind  children,  and  two  classes  for  children 
with  contagious  eye  diseases.  The  cost  per  pupil  per  year 
is  about  $375  in  institutions,  and  $175  in  city-school  classes. 
Education  of  the  feeble-minded.  Before  the  nineteenth 
century  the  feeble-minded  and  idiotic  were  the  jokes  of 
society,  and  no  one  thought  of  being  able  to  do  anything  for 
them.  In  1811  Napoleon  ordered  a  census  of  such  individ- 
uals, and  in  1816  the  first  school  for  their  training  was 
founded  at  Salzburg,  in  Austria.  The  school  was  unsuccess- 
ful, and  closed  in  1835.  The  real  beginning  of  the  training  of 
the  feeble-minded  was  made  in  France  by  Edouard  Seguin, 
"The  Apostle  of  the  Idiot,"  in  1837,  when  he  began  a  life- 
long study  of  such  people.  By  1845  three  or  four  institu- 
tions for  their  study  and  training  had  been  opened  in  Swit- 
zerland and  Great  Britain,  and  for  a  time  it  was  thought  that 
idiocy  might  be  cured.  Gallaudet  had  tried  to  educate  such 
children  at  Hartford,  about  1820,  and  a  class  for  idiots  was 
established  at  the  Blind  Asylum  in  Boston,  in  1848.  The 
interest  aroused  resulted  in  the  creation  of  the  Massachu- 
setts School  for  Idiotic  and  Feeble-Minded  Youth,  in  1851, 
the  first  institution  of  its  kind  in  the  United  States.  By 
1875  seven  state  and  two  private  institutions  had  been  es- 
tablished in  this  country,  but  until  about  1890  the  move- 
ment for  the  education  of  the  feeble-minded  had  made  but 
little  real  headway.  Within  the  past  ten  years,  as  the  so- 
cial consequences  of  feeble-mindedness  and  idiocy  have  been 
brought  to  the  attention  of  our  people,  a  new  interest  in  the 
institutional  care  of  the  worst  cases,  and  the  education 
within  the  range  of  their  possibilities  of  the  higher  grade  of 
feeble-minded  children,  has  been  awakened.  As  a  result  we 
have  to-day  thirty-eight  state  institutions  in  twenty-nine 
States,   and   twenty-eight   private   institutions   in  fifteen 


NEW  EDUCATIONAL  CONCEPTIONS 


391 


States,  for  the  institutional  care  and  education  of  the  dis- 
tinctively feeble-minded. 

In  1867  the  first  city  school  class  to  train  children  of  low- 
grade  intelligence  was  organized  in  Germany,  and  all  the 
larger  cities  of  Germany  have  since  organized  such  special 
classes.  Norway  followed  with  a  similar  city  organization 
in  1874,  and  England,  Switzerland,  and  Austria  about  1892. 
In  1893,  the  first  American  city,  Providence,  organized 
special  instruction  for  children  of  low  intelligence.  Boston 
and  Springfield  did  the  same  in  1898,  and  New  York  City  in 
1900.  Since  then  118  American  cities,  up  to  1916,  had  or- 
ganized school  classes  for  the  segregation  and  training  of 


STATE    EDUCATIONAL    INSTITUTIONS 


Normal 
Schools 


Special    State 
Institutions    for 


Agricultural 
Schools 


Feeble 
Minded 


BHnd 


Colleges 

and 

Universities 


Cripples 
Dependents 


Idiots 


IncorrigibIe3 


Industrial 
Schools 


Orphans 
Neglected 


Penitentiary 
for  First 
Offenders 


Fig.  71.  Educational  Institutions  Maintained  bt  the  State 

As  state  educational  institutions,  other  than  public  schools. 


the  higher  grades  of  children  of  low  mental  capacity.  In 
the  state  institutions  approximately  thirty-three  thousand 
feeble-minded  persons  are  being  cared  for,  and  about  nine 
hundred  in  private  institutions.  The  118  cities  were  edu- 
cating, in  special  classes,  16,521  children  of  this  type  in  1916. 
As  studies  show  that  approximately  two  per  cent  of  all  school 
children  are  of  such  low-grade  intelligence  that  they  need 


392  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

special  classes,  and  that  at  least  two  persons  in  each  thou- 
sand are  definitely  feeble-minded  or  idiotic,  it  will  be  seen 
that  but  a  small  percentage  of  those  who  should  be  educated 
separately  or  confined  in  institutions  are  as  yet  under  proper 
educational  or  institutional  care. 

The  education  of  these  children  was  at  first  largely  of  the 
old  drill-subject  type,  but  more  recently  has  been  shifted 
largely  to  the  expression-type  of  studies,  with  special  em- 
phasis on  preparation,  for  the  higher  grades  of  such  children, 
which  will  fit  them  into  the  occupations  mentioned  under 
the  heading  of  Central  Schools  for  Peculiar  Boys  and  Girls 
(p.  384).  The  different  types  of  state  institutions  now  pro- 
vided are  as  shown  in  the  figure  on  the  preceding  page. 

Other  types  of  schools  for  defectives.  Other  types  of 
special  classes  for  children  suffering  from  defects,  recently 
organized  as  a  part  of  our  city  school  systems,  are: 

1.  Classes  for  stutterers  and  stammerers.  Pupils  suffering  from 
speech  defects  are  sent  to  small  special  classes,  under  teachers 
specially  trained  for  such  service,  and  by  slow  and  careful  speech- 
training  are  educated  to  speak  properly.  From  one  to  two  per  cent 
of  all  school-children  would  be  helped  by  such  special-class  speech 
training.  Such  classes  are  common  in  European  cities,  and  have 
been  established  in  a  number  of  American  cities,  since  the  first  one 
was  founded  in  New  York,  in  1909. 

2.  Special  schools  for  crippled  children.  The  first  attempt  to 
educate  crippled  children  in  schools  especially  adapted  to  their 
needs  was  made  in  Munich,  in  1832.  The  model  school  in  Europe 
for  the  education  of  cripples  was  established  in  Copenhagen,  in 
1872.  The  work  was  begun  privately  in  New  York  City,  in  1861. 
In  1898  the  London  School  Board  undertook  to  provide  classes 
for  crippled  children.  In  January,  1899,  the  city  of  Chicago  estab- 
lished the  first  public  school  for  crippled  children  in  the  United 
States.  In  1898  there  was  organized  in  New  York  City  "The 
Guild  for  Crippled  Children  of  the  Poor,"  and  in  1900  the  "Crip- 
pled Children's  East  Side  Free  School"  began  work.  During  the 
next  six  years  a  number  of  other  private-aid  organizations  also 
opened  schools  for  crippled  children,  and  in  1906  the  New  York 
City  Board  of  Education  began  the  organization  of  such  special 
classes  in  the  public  schools.    By  1912  the  city  was  educating,  in 


NEW  EDUCATIONAL  CONCEPTIONS  393 

93  special  classes,  about  450  of  the  estimated  18,000  crippled  chil- 
dren in  the  city.  In  1907  Massachusetts  opened  the  first  state 
institution  for  the  care  and  education  of  crippled  and  deformed 
children  in  the  United  States. 

3.  Open-air  classes.  This  type  of  class  has  come  in  with  the  re- 
cent new  interest  in  health  education,  it  being  designed  to  enable 
physically  run-down  children  to  continue  their  education  and  at 
the  same  time  regain  health  and  physical  vitality.  Such  classes 
are  held  in  the  open  air,  the  children  are  well  fed  and  warmly  clad, 
the  hygienic  conditions  are  closely  supervised,  and  the  instruction 
is  carefully  adjusted  to  the  needs  and  capacities  of  the  children.  The 
first  open-air  school  was  organized  in  Berlin,  in  1904,  London 
opened  its  first  open-air  school  in  1907,  and  the  first  in  the  United 
States  was  opened  at  Providence,  in  1908.  Boston  and  New  York 
City  opened  similar  schools  the  same  year,  and  Chicago  in  1909. 
The  movement  spread  rapidly,  and  by  1912  forty-four  American 
cities  had  organized  similar  special  classes.  The  number  of  these 
is  probably  in  excess  of  one  hundred  to-day. 

In  this  country  the  classes  have  so  far  been  confined  largely  to 
helping  tubercular  children,  but  in  the  European  cities  much  more 
has  been  done  than  with  us  in  caring  for  and  improving  children 
suffering  from  various  forms  of  physical  debility  and  subnormal 
vitality.  So  far  we  have  met  the  needs  of  but  very  few  with  such 
schools,  as  statistics  show  from  three  to  five  per  cent  of  our  school- 
children are  in  need  of  such  treatment  as  these  open-air  schools 
provide. 

V.  Child  Health  and  Welfare 

The  new  interest  in  health.  The  education  and  care  of 
tubercular  children  and  children  of  low  physical  vitality, 
while  valuable,  is  but  a  small  part  of  the  health  problem 
which  a  modern  school  system  has  within  recent  years  been 
called  upon  to  face.  The  discovery  and  isolation  of  bac- 
teria; the  vast  amount  of  new  knowledge  which  has  come  to 
us  as  to  the  transmission  and  possibilities  for  the  elimination 
of  many  diseases;  the  spread  of  information  as  to  sanitary 
science  and  preventive  medicine;  the  change  in  emphasis  in 
medical  practice  from  curative  to  preventative  and  reme- 
dial; the  closer  crowding  together  of  all  classes  of  people  in 
cities;  the  change  of  habits  for  many  from  life  in  the  open  to 


Net  average 

worth  of  a  person 

Age 

Worth 

0 

$90 

5 

950 

10 

2000 

20 

4000 

30 

4100 

40 

3650 

50 

2900 

60 

1650 

70 

15 

80 

-700 

S94  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

life  in  the  factory,  shop,  and  apartment;  and  the  growing 
realization  of  the  economic  value  to  the  nation  of  its  man- 
hood and  womanhood;  have  all 
alike  combined  with  modern 
humanitarianism  and  applied 
Christianity  to  make  us  take  a 
new  interest  in  child  health  and 
proper  child  development.  Eu- 
ropean nations  have  so  far  done 
much  more  in  school  health 
work   than    has    the    United 

(Calculations  by  Dr. '  William  Farr.         States,     though     &    Very    COm- 

forGreatBrittr  °f  Vital  *****      mendable  beginning  has  been 

made  here. 

Medical  inspection  and  health  supervision.  Medical  in- 
spection of  schools  began  in  France,  in  1837,  though  genuine 
medical  inspection,  in  a  modern  sense,  was  not  begun  in 
France  until  1879.  The  pioneer  country  was  Sweden, 
where  health  officers  were  assigned  to  each  large  school  as 
early  as  1868.  Norway  made  such  appointments  optional 
in  1885,  and  obligatory  in  1891.  Belgium  began  the  work 
in  1874.  Tests  of  eyesight  were  begun  in  Dresden  in  1867, 
Frankfort-on-Main  appointed  the  first  German  school  physi- 
cian in  1888.  England  first  employed  school  nurses  in 
1887;  and,  in  1907,  following  the  revelations  as  to  low  physi- 
cal vitality  growing  out  of  the  Boer  War,  adopted  a  manda- 
tory medical  inspection  and  health  development  act  apply- 
ing to  England  and  Wales,  and  the  year  following  Scotland 
did  the  same.  Argentine  and  Chili  both  instituted  such 
service  in  1888,  and  Japan  made  medical  inspection  com- 
pulsory and  universal  in  1898. 

In  the  United  States  the  work  was  begun  voluntarily  in 
Boston,  in  1894,  following  a  series  of  epidemics.  Chicago  or- 
ganized medical  inspection  in  1895,  New  York  City  in  1897, 
and  Philadelphia  in  1898.  From  these  larger  cities  the  idea 
spread  to  the  smaller  ones,  at  first  slowly,  and  then  very 
rapidly.    By  1911  as  many  as  411  cities  had  provided  medi- 


O    £ 


fc    W 


NEW  EDUCATIONAL  CONCEPTIONS  395 

cal  inspection,  and  the  number  to-day  is  probably  near  a 
thousand.  The  first  school  nurse  in  the  United  States  was 
employed  in  New  York  City,  in  1902,  and  the  idea  at  once 
proved  to  be  of  great  value.  By  1911  as  many  as  415  school 
nurses  had  been  employed  in  American  cities,  and  the  num- 
ber has  increased  very  rapidly  since  that  date.  In  1906 
Massachusetts  adopted  the  first  state  medical  inspection 
law,  and  by  1911  twenty  States  had  enacted  such  legisla- 
tion. In  1912  Minnesota  organized  the  first  "  State  Division 
of  Health  Supervision  of  Schools"  in  the  United  States,  and 
this  plan  has  since  been  followed  by  other  States. 

The  recent  army-draft  medical  examinations  have  given 
us  a  rude  shock  as  to  the  physical  condition  of  our  young 
men.  In  the  first  draft,  approximately  one  in  four  of  the 
young  men  between  the  ages  of  21  and  30,  the  time  when  a 
young  man  should  be  in  the  prime  of  physical  condition, 
were  rejected  for  the  army  because  of  physical  defects 
which  would  incapacitate  them  for  the  life  of  a  soldier. 
Others  who  were  accepted  have  had  to  be  placed  in  develop- 
ment battalions  to  bring  them  up  to  physical  standard. 
Had  our  young  women  between  the  same  ages  been  called 
up  for  important  national  duty  there  is  reason  to  think  that 
an  even  larger  percentage  among  them  would  have  been 
rejected.  Such  tests  of  the  nation's  physical  stamina  are 
startling,  and  there  is  every  reason  to  expect  that  these  reve- 
lations as  to  the  physical  incapacity  of  our  young  men,  to- 
gether with  the  many  recent  studies  of  rural  and  city  health 
conditions,  will  give  a  new  emphasis  to  constructive  health 
work  in  our  schools. 

From  mere  medical  inspection  to  detect  contagious  dis- 
eases, in  which  the  movement  everywhere  began,  it  was  next 
extended  to  tests  for  eyesight  and  hearing,  to  be  made  by 
teachers  or  physicians,  and  has  since  been  enlarged  to  in- 
clude physical  examinations  to  detect  hidden  diseases  and  a 
constructive  health  program  for  the  schools. 

The  work  has  come  to  include  eye,  ear,  nose,  throat,  and 
teeth,  as  well  as  general  physical  examinations;  the  supervi- 


$96  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

sion  of  the  teaching  of  hygiene  in  the  schools,  and  to  a  certain 
extent  the  physical  training  and  playground  activities;  and 
a  constructive  program  for  the  development  of  the  health 
and  physical  welfare  of  all  children.  The  value  of  the  work 
in  reducing  physical  defects  among  school-children  may  be 
seen  from  the  following: 

Percentage  op  Pupils  having  Physical  Defects 

Years  Percentage 

1912-13  ■■■■HIHHHHIiHiHHH^lB  69.0 

1913-14  ■!■!■■ hum ■■Himn— i  50.8 

1914-15  i ■■mum ■■ ■inn 40.0 

1915-16   ■■  ■■!!■  !■ IIIIIIIBHIIIIIIHMIlll   35.0 

1916-17  ■ inn  mi 30.0 

Results  of  Five  Years'  Work  of  the  Health  Service  at  Reading, 
Pennsylvania,  under  the  Law  of  1911 

This  work  can  now  be  carried  on  as  satisfactorily  in  small 
cities  and  in  county-unit  school  systems  as  in  the  larger 
places,  and  some  knowledge  of  health  needs  and  some  ability 
to  detect  disease  is  every  year  becoming  increasingly  impor- 
tant for  teachers.  Child  hygiene  is  a  new  study  which 
teachers  need  to  take  up. 

Play  and  playground  activities.  Closely  related  to  the 
health  supervision  of  our  schools  is  the  play  and  playground 
work  of  the  children,  itself  also  a  recent  educational  develop- 
ment. Probably  the  first  playground  organized  in  the  United 
States  especially  for  children  was  provided  by  the  Children's 
Mission  in  Boston,  in  1886\  Two  summer  playgrounds 
were  established  privately  in  Philadelphia,  in  1893,  a  sand 
garden  in  Providence  in  1894,  and  a  summer  playground  in 
Chicago  in  1897.  The  first  public  playground  was  organized 
in  Chicago  in  1898.  By  1911,  257  cities  reported  1543  play- 
grounds as  in  operation,  and  75  other  cities  known  to  have 
playgrounds  did  not  report.  The  number  has  increased 
rapidly  since  1911,  and  to-day  organized  play  and  play- 
ground directors  are  generally  recognized  necessities  in  the 
proper  education  of  children. 

At  first  the  tendency  was  to  provide  separate  grounds  and 


NEW  EDUCATIONAL  CONCEPTIONS  397 

management,  under  a  city  playground  commission,  but 
within  the  past  eight  to  ten  years  the  tendency  has  been  to 
place  the  direction  of  playgrounds  under  the  school  depart- 
ment of  the  city,  and  to  organize  and  schedule  play  as  a 
regular  school  subject.  The  inclination  has  also  been 
marked,  within  recent  years,  to  get  away  from  the  German 
type  of  Turnen  exercises,  and  all  highly  organized  types  of 
group  games;  to  permit  of  much  free  play  and  to  use  play 
not  only  for  physical  development  but  also  to  develop  men- 
tal and  moral  qualities,  and  above  all  the  ability  to  play  the 
game  fairly  and  to  lose  cheerfully.  It  is  this  type  of  play 
which  has  done  so  much  for  the  English  boy,  and  which  the 
German  boy  has  never  known.  Still  more,  we  now  open  the 
playgrounds,  under  paid  teachers  and  playground  directors, 
after  school  hours,  on  Saturdays  and  Sundays,  and  espe- 
cially during  the  long  summer  vacation.  The  value  of  games 
and  sports  in  sustaining  the  morale  and  physical  stamina  of 
the  Allied  armies  on  the  Western  Front  was  a  new  demon- 
stration of  the  value  of  directed  play. 

Vacation  schools.  Another  recent  educational  develop- 
ment, also  along  the  line  of  child  welfare,  has  been  the  organ- 
ization of  vacation  schools.  The  first  vacation  school  of 
which  there  is  any  record  was  held  in  the  old  First  Church  of 
Boston,  as  a  private  affair,  in  1866.  Its  purpose  was  solely 
to  get  the  children  off  the  streets  and  under  good  influences. 
From  1868  to  1876  certain  citizens  voluntarily  supported  a 
vacation  school  at  Providence,  which  the  School  Committee 
permitted  to  be  held  in  one  of  the  school  buildings.  In  1894 
Providence  again  began  such  schools,  and  in  1900  the  city 
school  authorities  adopted  them  as  a  regular  part  of  the  city 
school  system.  The  first  city  to  establish  vacation  schools 
as  a  part  of  its  city  school  organization  was  Newark,  in  1885. 
In  1894  "The  New  York  Society  for  Improving  the  Condi- 
tion of  the  Poor"  was  permitted  to  open  four  vacation 
schools  in  the  city,  and  in  1897  the  vacation  school  idea  was 
adopted  by  the  Board  of  Education  and  the  schools  taken 
over.     In  Cleveland,  "The  Ladies*  Aid  Society  of  the  Old 


398  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

Stone  Church"  established  the  first  vacation  school,  in 
1895,  and  in  1903  these  volunteer  schools  were  taken  over  by 
the  city.  In  Chicago  the  Associated  Charities  in  1896,  the 
University  Settlement  in  1897,  and  the  Chicago  Women's 
Clubs  in  1898  opened  vacation  schools,  and  these  have  since 
been  taken  over  by  the  city. 

Almost  everywhere,  prior  to  1900,  vacation  schools  had 
their  beginning  in  the  voluntary  effort  of  philanthropic  or- 
ganizations, being  taken  over  later  by  the  city  school  de- 
partment. The  early  beginnings  of  these  schools  reminds 
one  of  the  early  public  school  societies  for  the  establishment 
of  the  first  free  schools.  Within  the  past  ten  years  the  vaca- 
tion school  idea  has  been  accepted  generally  by  our  cities, 
and  such  schools  are  now  maintained  in  hundreds  of  places. 
Begun  first  to  take  children  off  the  streets,  the  idea  has  now 
changed  to  that  of  offering  real  instruction  as  well,  though 
usually  with  more  emphasis  on  the  expression  studies  than 
is  given  in  the  regular  winter  schools.  Manual  training, 
domestic  science,  music,  story-telling,  nature-study,  gar- 
dening, personal  and  community  hygiene,  local  history  and 
geography,  excursions  on  Saturdays,  play,  swimming,  and 
marching  and  drills  occupy  a  large  part  of  the  instruction. 
The  term  is  usually  six  weeks,  though  there  was  a  noticeable 
tendency,  after  1915,  to  extend  the  term  to  cover  the  entire 
summer  vacation  period,  thus  organizing  the  schools  on  an 
all-year  four-quarter  basis.  Cleveland,  Gary,  and  a  few 
other  places  definitely  provided  such  all-year  schools.  In 
many  places  the  high  school  work  has  been  extended  as 
well,  and  either  a  six-weeks  review  school  or  a  summer 
quarter  has  been  provided. 

School  gardening.  This  is  another  recent  activity  under- 
taken by  the  school.  The  work  began  as  an  economic  meas- 
ure in  Germany,  in  the  first  half  of  the  nineteenth  century, 
and  was  in  time  adopted  quite  generally  by  the  state  school 
systems  of  the  different  European  nations,  largely  as  a  food- 
production  measure.  France  and  Denmark  have  in  the  past 
forty  years  made  wonderful  successes  with  such  instruction. 


NEW  EDUCATIONAL  CONCEPTIONS  399 

In  this  country  the  movement  is  little  more  than  two  decades 
old.  The  first  school  garden  with  us  was  the  Wild  Flower 
Garden,  established  at  Roxbury,  Massachusetts,  in  1891. 
The  gardens  established,  in  1897,  by  the  National  Cash 
Register  Company,  of  Dayton,  Ohio,  for  the  children  of  its 
employees,  were  among  the  first  real  school  gardens  in  this 
country.  At  first,  school  officials  saw  little  in  the  idea,  and 
practically  all  gardens  organized  before  about  ten  years  ago 
were  by  private  agencies.  Only  since  about  1910  have  the 
public  schools  become  interested  in  the  idea  as  an  educa- 
tional undertaking.  Alter  the  outbreak  of  the  World  War, 
and  the  increasing  world-wide  scarcity  of  food  which  fol- 
lowed, the  National  Food  Administration  began  an  energetic 
campaign  to  stimulate  the  organization  of  school  gardens  as 
a  food-production  measure.  In  1918  the  United  States 
Bureau  of  Education  appointed  a  national  organizer  of 
school  gardens,  and  an  Educational  Land  Army  of  boys  and 
girls  was  formed,  under  command  of  the  President  of  the 
United  States.  The  impetus  thus  given  to  the  establish- 
ment of  these  gardens,  together  with  the  many  valuable  edu- 
cational aspects  of  the  work,  promise  to  make  school  gar- 
dening with  us,  a  new  elementary  school  subject  of  large 
importance. 

School  gardening  comes  in  naturally  as  a  phase  of  the  va- 
cation school  work,  described  above,  as  the  gardens  planted 
in  the  spring  can  be  cared  for  during  the  summer  as  a  part 
of  the  work  of  the  vacation  school.  Wholly  aside  from  the 
money-value  and  food-production  aspects  of  the  work,  now 
most  emphasized,  the  work  makes  a  strong  appeal  from  a 
purely  educational  point  of  view.  To  many  city  children  it 
is  almost  the  only  contact  they  ever  get  with  nature;  to 
some  it  is  a  type  of  education  in  which  they  become  deeply 
interested;  and  to  many  it  means  good  and  healthful  exer- 
cise, under  proper  conditions,  in  the  fresh  air  and  sunshine. 
The  nature-study  value  of  the  observation  of  how  plants 
germinate,  grow,  and  mature;  the  lessons  in  social  coopera- 
tion which  gardening  can  be  made  to  teach;  the  industrial 


400  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

experience  coming  from  the  money  value  of  the  products 
raised;  the  efforts  to  excel  developed  by  competition  in  pro- 
duction; the  withdrawal  of  children  from  the  games  and 
vices  of  the  streets;  and  the  possibilities  offered  by  the  work 
for  carrying  over  a  vacation-school  interest,  —  all  are  fea- 
tures of  the  school  gardening  movement  which  are  of  much 
moral  and  social  as  well  as  educational  value. 

VI.  Significance  of  this  Work 

It  will  have  been  noted  that  all  the  extensions  of  educa- 
tional effort  which  we  have  described  in  this  chapter  are 
recent  in  origin,  both  with  us  and  in  other  parts  of  the  world. 
The  oldest  of  these  special  efforts,  that  of  the  education  of 
the  deaf,  goes  back  less  than  a  century,  while  the  great  de- 
velopment of  state  institutions  for  the  education  of  delin- 
quents and  defectives  has  come  since  1875.  The  earlier 
interest  in  defectives  may,  in  a  general  way,  be  said  to  have 
been  a  phase  of  the  great  humanitarian  movement  which 
followed  the  Napoleonic  wars,  and  found  expression  in  edu- 
cation, poor  relief,  workingmen's  societies,  the  protection 
of  children,  and  anti-slavery  propaganda. 

Beginning  about  1875  to  1880,  and  not  becoming  promi- 
nent until  after  about  1890  to  1900,  a  new  interest  in  edu- 
cation and  child  welfare  has  become  evident  in  all  lands  hav- 
ing what  may  be  called  an  advanced  type  of  civilization. 
The  new  interest  is  less  humanitarian  than  the  earlier,  and 
is  more  an  outgrowth  of  the  changed  conditions  in  the  na- 
tional life.  There  is  a  new  consciousness  of  social  needs,  in 
part  a  truer  Christian  conception  of  one's  duty  to  his  fellow 
men,  and  a  new  feeling  of  need  for  the  transformation  of  all 
possible  dependents  into  independent  members  of  society. 
The  result  has  been  a  great  expansion  of  public  educational 
effort,  as  shown  in  the  chart  given  opposite.  In  addition,  with 
us,  the  new  interest  in  providing  so  many  new  types  of  edu- 
cational effort  has  arisen  in  large  part  because  our  American 
communities  have  come  to  see  that,  having  committed  them- 
selves to  the  idea  of  educating  all  children,  it  is  only  fair  and 


The  Original 
AMERICAN    COMMON    SCHOOL 


THE    ELEMENTARY    SCHOOL 

for  Average  Pupils, 

with  Special  Classes  for  Others 


Fio.  72.  Evolution  of  the  Extensions  or  American  Public 
Education 


402  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

wise  that  there  should  be  provided  such  a  variety  of  schools, 
classes,  and  courses  that  every  boy  and  girl  may  obtain  in 
our  schools,  local  or  state,  an  education  of  such  a  type  as 
each  can  use  to  the  greatest  personal  and  social  advantage. 
The  fact  that  we  have  recently  come  to  see  that  many  differ- 
ent types  of  schools  and  classes  are  required  to  provide  ade- 
quately for  the  needs  of  all  has  been  felt  to  be  no  reasonable 
ground  for  discrimination  between  children. 

QUESTIONS  FOR  DISCUSSION 

1.  Explain  what  you  understand  is  meant  by  a  "faculty  psychology," 
and  show  the  educational  consequences  of  such  a  conception. 

2.  What  is  meant  by  pupil-cooperation  schemes  for  training  in  self-con- 
trol? 

3.  Contrast  the  earlier  book-knowledge  conception  of  education  and  the 
newer  child-to-be-educated  conception. 

4.  Contrast  the  knowledge-as-experience  conception  with  the  know- 
ledge-as-memorized-learning  conception  of  education. 

5.  Contrast  the  training  and  work  of  a  teacher  in  these  two  types  of 
schools. 

6.  State  the  dominating  ideas  of  the  modern  school. 

7.  State  the  advantages  and  disadvantages  of  "average  courses"  of 
study. 

8.  In  what  way  are  over-age  and  retarded  children  being  prepared  to 
join  the  ranks  of  the  unsuccessful  and  dissatisfied  of  our  working 
world? 

9.  Does  a  uniform  literary-type  course  of  study  tend  to  awaken  ambitions 
which  can  never  be  fulfilled?    Why? 

10.  Do  differentiated  courses  and  schools  tend  to  prevent  such  disap- 
pointments, and  if  so,  how? 

11.  Show  that  President  Eliot's  contention  in  his  1912  address  was  or 
was  not  correct. 

12.  Show  how  the  breakdown  of  the  old  apprentice  system  has  (a)  made 
the  educational  problem  more  difficult,  and  (6)  caused  us  to  raise 
the  compulsory  school  age. 

13.  Show  how  the  increase  of  immigration  has  made  compulsory  attend- 
ance more  necessary,  and  also  compelled  an  enlargement  of  educa- 
tional opportunity. 

14.  How  do  you  account  for  the  recent  great  interest  in  the  education  of 
delinquents  and  defectives? 

15.  Contrast  the  educational  results  of  play  and  the  lack  of  it,  with  Amer- 
ican and  English  boys  on  the  one  hand,  and  German  boys  on  the 
other. 


NEW  EDUCATIONAL  CONCEPTIONS  403 

16.  How  do  you  account  for  the  long  neglect  of  child  welfare,  contrasted 

with  the  recent  interest  in  it  as  seen  in  health  work,  playgrounds,  etc.? 

17.  Show  how  education  beyond  the  elements  has  up  to  recently  been  for 
the  few. 

18.  Indicate  the  educational  consequences  of  accepting  the  idea  that 
all  children  are  to  be  given  as  good  an  education  as  their  needs 
require. 

TOPICS  FOR  INVESTIGATION  AND  REPORT 

1.  History  of  the  compulsory-education  movement  in  the  United  States. 

2.  Nature  of  the  compulsory  school-attendance  law  in  your  State,  and 
what  provisions  exist  for  enforcing  it? 

3.  The  organization  and  work  of  some  parental  school. 

4.  The  location,  organization,  work,  and  cost,  in  your  State,  of: 

(a)  The  State  Industrial  School  or  Schools. 

(b)  The  State  School  for  training  of  the  Deaf. 

(c)  The  State  School  for  training  of  the  Blind. 

(<0  The  State  School  for  training  of  the  Feeble-Minded. 
(e)  The  State  School  for  training  of  Orphan  Children. 

5.  The  work  of  some  city  day  school  for  the  oral  instruction  of  the  deaf. 

6.  Organization  and  work  of  some  day  school  for  crippled  children. 

7.  Organization  and  work  of  some  open-air  classes. 

8.  Organization  and  work  of  some  city  school  health  department. 

9.  Work  of  a  school  dental  clinic. 

10.  The  work  of  the  school  nurse. 

11.  School  feeding. 

12.  Health  work  in  the  schools  of  England  and  the  United  States  compared. 

13.  Education  of  the  Ne'er  do  Wells. 

14.  Work  of  some  city  industrial  school. 

15.  Work  of  some  city  home  training  school. 

16.  School  and  public  playgrounds. 

17.  The  organization  and  work  of  some  vacation  school. 

18.  School  gardening. 

SELECTED  REFERENCES 

Adams,  G.  S.  "Recent  Progress  in  Training  Delinquent  Children";  in 
Report  of  the  United  States  Commissioner  of  Education,  1913,  vol.  I, 
pp.  481-97. 

On  the  work  of  juvenile  courts,  probation  officers,  detention  homes,  and  the  relation  of 
feeble-mindedness  to  delinquency. 

♦Allen,  E.  A.  "Education  of  Defectives";  in  Butler,  N.M.,  Education  in 
the  United  States,  pp.  771-820.    J.  B.  Lyon  Co.,  Albany,  1900. 

A  well-written  statement  covering  schools  for  the  education  of  the  deaf,  blind,  feeble- 
minded, and  juvenile  offenders. 


404  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

*Ayres,  May,  Williams,  J.  F.,  and  Wood,  T.  D.   Healthful  Schools.  292  pp., 

Houghton  Mifflin  Co.,  Boston,  1918. 

Good  chapters  on  medical  inspection,  play,  exceptional  children,  and  school  feeding. 
Betts,  Geo.  H.    Social  Principles  of  Education.    319  pp.    Chas.  Scribner's 

Sons,  New  York,  1912. 

Chapter  VII  deals  with  education  for  play  and  use  of  leisure,  and  forms  simple  col- 
lateral reading  for  this  chapter. 

Cook,  W.  A.    "A  Brief  Survey  of  the  Development  of  Compulsory  Educa- 
tion in  the  United  States";  in  Elementary  School  Teachert  vol.  12,  pp. 
331-35.     (March,  1912.) 
A  historical  survey. 

Cooley,  E.  G.  "The  Adjustment  of  the  School  System  to  the  Changed 
Conditions  of  the  Twentieth  Century";  in  Proceedings  of  the  National 
Education  Association,  1909,  pp.  404-10. 

Need  of  better  adjustment  of  education  to  class  needs,  worker,  etc. 

*Cubberley,  E.  P.  Public  School  Administration.  479  pp.  Houghton 
Mifflin  Co.,  Boston,  1916. 

Chapters  XVII  and  XVIII,  on  "Types  of  and  Adjustments  and  Differentiations  in 
Courses  of  Study,"  present  more  expanded  treatment  on  the  first  two  sections  of  this 
chapter.    Selected  bibliography. 

*Dewey,  John  and  Evelyn.    Schools  of  To-morrow.  316  pp.    E .  P.  Dutton 
Co.,  New  York,  1915. 

Chapter  IV  describes  a  number  of  attempts  at  the  reorganization  of  the  curriculum 
and  Chapter  V  play  as  a  school  study. 

*Dooley,  W.  H.  The  Education  of  the  Ne'er-do-Well.  164  pp.  Houghton 
Mifflin  Co.,  Boston,  1916. 

Special  needs  of  this  class  of  children;  adaptations  of  school  work;  and  a  constructive 
program  for  their  instruction. 

Draper,  A.  S.     American  Education.      382  pp.     Houghton  Mifflin  Co., 
Boston,  1909. 

The  address  on  "Illiteracy  and  Compulsory  Education,"  pp.  61-73,  forms  good  sup- 
plemental reading  for  this  chapter. 

Dresslar,  F.  B.  "Methods  and  Means  of  Health  Teaching  in  the  United 
States"  ;  in  Report  of  the  United  States  Commissioner  of  Education,  1913, 
vol.  i,  pp.  415-34. 

A  good  descriptive  article  on  health  service,  hygiene,  and  the  work  of  doctors  and 
nurses. 

*Eliot,  Chas.  W.    "Undesirable  and  Desirable  Uniformity  in  Schools";  in 
Educational  Reform,  pp.  273-300.     Century  Co.,  New  York,  1898. 
Also  in  Proceedings  of  the  National  Education  Association,  1892. 
The  address  cited  in  this  chapter. 

Hailman,  W.  N.  The  Elementary  Industrial  School  at  Cleveland.  19  pp. 
United  States  Bureau  of  Education,  Bulletin  No.  39.    Washington,  19ia 

A  brief  description  and  outline  of  work. 


NEW  EDUCATIONAL  CONCEPTIONS  405 

Hiatt,  J.  S.     The  Truant  Problem  and  the  Parental  School.    35  pp.    United 
States  Bureau  of  Education,  Bulletin  No.  29.    Washington,  1915. 
Study  of  conditions  in  different  cities. 

*Hoag,  E.  B.,  and  Terman,  L.  M.  Health  Work  in  the  Schools.  321  pp. 
Houghton  Mifflin  Co.,  Boston,  1914. 

An  excellent  book  on  health  supervision,  health  teaching,  open-air  schools,  and  school 
housekeeping. 

Jarvis,  C.  D.  Gardening  in  Elementary  School.  74  pp.  United  States 
Bureau  of  Education,  Bulletin  No.  40.     Washington,  1916. 

Why  and  how  gardening  should  be  introduced  as  a  study,  and  the  promotion  of  the 
work. 

Kingsley,  S.  C,  and  Dresslar,  F.  B.    Open-Air  Schools.    280  pp.     United 
States  Bureau  of  Education,  Bulletin  No.  23.     Washington,  1916. 
A  well-illustrated  volume  on  open-air  schools  and  health  work  for  children. 

*Mendelsohn,  S.  "Summer  Idleness  and  Juvenile  Delinquency";  in 
Educational  Review,  vol.  50,  pp.  24-35.     (June,  1915.) 

A  very  able  article.     Points  out  the  need  of  greater  use  of  the  school  plant. 

*Mitchell,  D.  Schools  and  Classes  for  Exceptional  Children.  122  pp. 
Cleveland  Education  Survey,  1916. 

Describes  the  special  classes  and  schools  in  and  needed  by  such  a  city. 

*Monroe,  J.  P.  "The  Grievance  of  the  Average  Boy  against  the  Average 
School";  in  New  Demands  in  Education,  pp.  3-25.  Doubleday,  Page  & 
Co..  New  York,  1912. 

A  good  statement  from  the  point  of  view  of  the  boy. 

*Monroe,  Paul.  Cyclopedia  of  Education.  5  vols.  The  Macmillan  Ca, 
New  York,  1911-13. 

The  following  articles  are  especially  important: 

1.  "Attendance,  Compulsory";  vol.  I,  pp.  285-95. 

2.  "Blind,  Education  of";  vol.  I,  pp.  395-401. 

3.  "Crippled  Children,  Education  of";  vol.  n,  pp.  £30-34. 

4.  "Deaf,  Education  of";  vol.  n,  pp.  257-05. 

6.  "Deaf  Blind,  Education  of";  vol.  n,  pp.  265-70. 
0.  "Defectives,  Education  of";  vol.  n,  pp.  275-79. 

7.  "Gardens,  School";  vol.  m,  pp.  10-12. 

8.  "Medical  Inspection";  vol.  iv,  pp.  182-88. 

9.  "Open-Air  Schools";  vol.  rv,  pp.  548-51. 

10.  "Playgrounds";  vol.  iv,  pp.  728-30. 

11.  "Reform  Schools";  vol.  v,  pp.  130-33. 

12.  "Special  Classes";  vol.  v,  pp.  384-80. 

13.  "Speech  Defects";  vol.  v,  pp.  389-91. 

14.  "Teeth,  Hygiene  of";  vol.  v,  pp.  554-55. 

15.  "Vacation  Schools";  vol.  v,  pp.  701-02. 

♦Moore,  E.  C.     What  is  Education  ?    354  pp.     Ginn  &  Co.,  Boston,  1915. 

The  first  two  essays,  on  "What  is  Education,"  nnd  "What  is  Knowledge,"  form 
good  supplemental  reading  for  the  first  two  sections  of  this  chapter. 


406  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

*National  Society.  The  City  School  as  a  Community  Center.  72  pp. 
Tenth  Y ear-Book  of  the  National  Society  for  the  Scientific  Study  of 
Education,  Part  I,  1911. 

Contains  three  good  papers  on  vacation  playgrounds,  organized  athletics,  and  evening 
recreation  centers. 

*Snedden,  D.  "The  Public  School  and  Juvenile  Delinquency";  in  Edu- 
cational Review,  vol.  33,  pp.  374-85.     (April,  1907.) 

An  excellent  article  on  the  handling  of  juvenile  delinquents,  and  the  place  and  work  of 
the  public  school  in  the  process. 

Solenberger,  E.  R.  Public  School  Classes  for  Crippled  Children.  51  pp. 
United  States  Bureau  of  Education,  Bulletin  No.  10.    Washington,  1918. 

Describes  existing  classes,  and  illustrates  work. 

Smith,  C.  O.    Garden  Clubs  in  the  Schools  of  Englewood,  New  Jersey.  44  pp. 
United  States  Bureau  of  Education,  Bulletin  No.  26.      Washington, 
1917. 
Describes  their  origin  and  illustrates  the  work  done. 

"Terman,  L.  M.  Hygiene  of  the  School  Child.  417  pp.  Houghton  Mifflin 
Co.,  Boston,  1914. 

An  excellent  book  for  teachers  along  the  lines  of  child  welfare. 

Trowbridge,  Ada  W.     The  Home  School.    95  pp.    Houghton  Mifflin  Co., 

Boston,  1913. 

A  very  interesting  description  of  the  work  and  the  ideas  underlying  the  school  for 
training  in  home  arts,  established  at  Providence,  Rhode  Island. 

Van  Sickle,  J.  H,  Witmer,  L.,  and  Ayres,  L.  P.  Provisions  for  Exceptional 
Children  in  Public  Schools.  92  pp.  United  States  Bureau  of  Education, 
Bulletin  No.  4.    Washington,  1911. 

Classi6es  exceptional  children,  and  describes  work  done  for  them  in  thirty-nine  Amer- 
ican cities. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

NEW  DIRECTIONS  OF  EDUCATIONAL  EFFORT 

I.  The  Expansion  of  the  High  School 

Great  recent  development.  The  diagram,  on  page  192, 
showing  the  development  of  the  Latin  grammar  school, 
academy,  and  high  school;  and  the  map  on  page  198,  show- 
ing the  high  schools  established  by  1860,  alike  indicate 
the  slow  development  of  the  free  public  high  school  in  the 
United  States.  Though  begun  in  1821,  the  public  high 
school,  up  to  1860,  had  made  but  little  headway  except  in 
regions  where  New  England  people  had  gone.  The  Civil 
War  checked  further  development  for  two  decades,  but 
after  about  1880  to  1885  a  rapid  growth  of  the  American 
high  school  began.  While  no  accurate  figures  are  available, 
there  were  probably  about  500  high  schools  in  the  United 
States  by  1870,  about  800  by  1880  (in  cities  244),  while  by 
1890,  the  first  year  for  which  complete  statistics  were  col- 
lected by  the  United  States  Bureau  of  Education,  the  num- 
ber was  2526.  Since  then  the  development  has  been  as 
follows : 


Per  cent  of  pupils  in : 

Fret  public 
high  school* 

Teachers 

Students 

Year 

Public 

Private 

high  schools 

high  schools 

1889-90 

2,526 

9,120 

202,968 

68.13 

31.87 

1894-95 

4,712 

14,122 

350,099 

74.74 

25.26 

1899-00 

6,005 

20,372 

519,251 

82.41 

17.59 

1904-05 

7,576 

28,461 

679,702 

86.38 

13.62 

1909-10 

10,213 

41,667 

915,061 

88.63 

11.37 

1914-15 

11,674 

62,519 

1,328,984 

89.55 

10.45 

1915-16 

12,003 

68,277 

1,456,061 

90.37 

9.63 

408  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

Unlike  the  development  before  1860,  the  recent  marked 
increase  in  the  number  of  high  schools  has  been  true  of  all 
parts  of  our  country,  West  as  well  as  East,  and  South  as 
well  as  North.  Before  1900  the  development  was  more 
marked  in  the  North;  since  1900  in  the  South  and  West. 
The  period  up  to  1860,  and  to  a  certain  extent  up  to  about 
1880,  was  an  experimental  period.  The  new  school  had  to 
find  its  work  and  become  established,  and  the  people  had  to 
grow  accustomed  to  the  idea  of  the  support  of  higher  schools 
as  a  proper  function  of  a  democratic  State.  By  1880  not 
only  had  we  at  last  become  convinced  as  to  the  need  of  ex- 
tending education  upward,  for  democratic  ends,  but  by  that 
time  the  industrial  and  social  changes  coming  in  our  national 
life  were  making  it  evident  that  the  further  development  and 
progress  of  our  democracy  would  be  seriously  hampered  un- 
less the  amount  of  education  extended  to  our  youths  was 
both  materially  increased  and  changed  in  character.  Since 
about  1885  to  1890  our  people  generally  seem  to  have  ac- 
cepted the  idea  that  a  secondary  school  education,  at  public 
expense,  should  be  placed  within  the  reach  of  as  many  of 
our  youth  as  is  possible.  After  about  this  time  legal  and 
legislative  objection  to  the  establishment  of  high  schools 
largely  ceased,  and  many  new  laws  providing  for  union 
schools  and  taxation  for  support  appear  on  the  statute  books 
of  our  States. 

Change  in  character  of  the  school.  Along  with  this  rapid 
development  of  the  high  school  —  in  number  of  schools, 
teachers,  and  students,  and  the  superseding  of  the  old  acad- 
emy and  the  private  high  school  by  tax-supported  institu- 
tions under  public  control  —  has  also  come  a  marked  change 
in  the  character  of  the  high  school  itself.  The  course  of 
study,  before  1860,  was  essentially  a  book-study  course, 
usually  three  years  in  length,  and  the  same  for  all  students. 
Reading,  writing,  geography,  arithmetic,  bookkeeping,  his- 
tory and  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  and  English 
grammar,  all  of  which  have  since  been  dropped  back  into  the 
upper  grades  of  the  elementary  school,  were  commonly 


NEW  DIRECTIONS  OF  EFFORT  409 

taught  in  the  high  schools  before  1860.  In  addition,  ancient 
and  modern  history,  rhetoric,  logic,  intellectual  and  moral 
philosophy,  natural  philosophy,  astronomy,  algebra,  geom- 
etry, trigonometry,  Latin,  and  Greek  were  usually  included. 
This  list  of  high  school  subjects,  as  well  as  the  floor  plans  of 
the  high  school  buildings  of  the  time  (see  floor  plans  for  the 
Providence  school,  page  195,  which  are  typical),  show  that 
the  high  school  was  essentially  a  place  to  study  and  recite. 

While  not  originally  begun  with  the  idea  of  preparing 
young  people  for  college  (see  statement  of  purposes  in  estab- 
lishing the  high  schools  in  Boston  and  New  York,  page  191), 
this  soon  became  one  of  the  important  purposes  of  our  high 
schools,  thus  making  of  them  a  part  of  our  educational  lad- 
der and  the  transition  institution  between  the  common 
school  and  the  college.  Up  to  the  time  of  the  Civil  War, 
however,  but  eight  high  school  subjects  (page  234)  had  found 
a  place  in  the  entrance  requirements  of  the  colleges  of  the 
time,  and  but  six  more  were  added  up  to  1875.  Since  then 
the  number  has  been  greatly  increased  by  adding  new  high- 
school  subjects  to  the  list.  Of  the  fourteen  accepted  by 
1875,  but  two  —  physical  geography  (1870)  and  physical 
science  (1872)  —  were  other  than  book  and  recitation  sub- 
jects, and  for  some  time  both  of  these  were  taught  from  text- 
books and  without  laboratory  equipment.  Since  1890 
laboratory  science,  and  since  1900  manual,  domestic,  and 
agricultural  subjects,  have  found  a  large  place  in  the  college- 
entrance  list. 

Development  of  new  courses  and  schools.  After  about 
1880  the  introduction  of  new  subjects  was  so  rapid  that  the 
old  course  of  study  became  overcrowded,  resulting  in: 

(a)  the  extension  of  the  high  school  course  to  four  years; 
(6)  the  introduction  of  options  and  electives  in  the  course;  and 
(c)  the  creation  of  a  number  of  parallel  four-year  courses,  such 
aa 

(1)  the  ancient  classical  course; 

(2)  the  modem  classical  course; 

(3)  the  English-history  course; 


410  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

(4)  the  scientific  course; 

(5)  the  business  course; 

16)  the  manual  arts  course; 

(7)  the  household  arts  course; 

(8)  the  agricultural  course; 

(9)  the  teacher-training  course; 
(10)  special  vocational  courses. 

In  addition  to  this  multiplication  of  courses,  in  many  cases 
separate  high  schools  for  teaching  some  one  or  more  of  the 
courses  given  above  have  also  been  developed,  with  the 
result  that  we  have  to-day: 

(1)  The  general  culture  high  school,  being  the  successor,  though 
now  greatly  modified  both  in  subject-matter  and  spirit,  of  the 
original  general  high  school. 

(2)  The  cosmopolitan  high  school,  offering  in  one  building,  or 
group  of  buildings,  many  or  all  of  the  different  courses  of  study 
mentioned  above. 

(3)  The  manual-training  high  school,  first  begun  as  a  part  of 
our  public  school  system  in  1884  (page  324),  but  now  more  com- 
monly developed  in  connection  with  (2). 

(4)  The  household-arts  high  school,  usually  provided  for  as  a 
course  under  (2)  or  (3),  but  sometimes  organized  separately. 

(5)  The  commercial  high  school,  for  training  for  business  life. 
Begun  as  a  separate  course  in  many  high  schools  in  the  seventies. 
Since  1898  a  number  of  commercial  high  schools  have  been  organ- 
ized in  the  more  important  of  our  commercial  cities. 

(6)  The  agricultural  high  school,  first  established  in  connection 
with  the  University  of  Minnesota,  in  1888.  By  1898  there  were 
ten  such  schools  in  the  United  States.  Since  1900  the  development 
of  the  agricultural  high  schools  has  been  more  rapid  than  has  been 
the  case  with  any  other  previous  type  of  high  school.  By  1909 
there  were  60  separate  agricultural  high  schools,  and  agricultural 
courses  were  offered  in  346  other  high  schools.  The  number  of 
high  schools  to-day  offering  agricultural  instruction  is  probably  in 
excess  of  one  thousand. 

(7)  Trade  and  industrial  schools,  of  high-school  grade,  for  voca* 
tional  training.  This  represents  our  most  recent  development. 
With  national  aid  for  such  schools  and  courses,  this  type  of  school 
promises  to  increase  very  rapidly. 


NEW  DIRECTIONS  OF  EFFORT  411 

Experience  has  shown  that  in  some  places  and  cases  it  is 
better  that  one  or  more  of  the  above  types  of  special  high 
schools  exist  separately,  while  in  other  cases  it  is  better  that 
such  courses  be  combined  in  what  is  now  commonly  spoken 
of  as  the  cosmopolitan  American  high  school.  In  their  be- 
ginnings new  types  of  education  often  prosper  better  if  or- 
ganized in  separate  schools;  after  the  work  has  been  estab- 
lished, and  accepted  as  a  legitimate  form  of  educational 
effort  it  has  been  found  wise  to  combine  a  number  of  differ- 
ent types  of  education  in  one  school,  thus  enabling  the  high 
school  to  offer  to  each  pupil  a  wider  range  of  choice  in  stud- 
ies. The  American  high  school,  unlike  the  secondary  school 
of  Europe,  is  preeminently  a  place  for  trying  out  young 
people,  developing  tastes,  testing  capacities,  opening  up  life 
opportunities,  and  discovering  along  what  lines  pupils  show 
enough  special  aptitude  to  warrant  further  education  and 
training.  The  same  principles  that  apply  to  the  differentia- 
tion of  elementary  school  courses  to  meet  individual  needs, 
as  stated  in  the  preceding  chapter,  apply  with  even  greater 
force  to  pupils  between  the  ages  of  fourteen  and  eighteen. 
This  involves  freedom  from  hard  and  fixed  courses  of  study, 
a  rich  and  varied  offering  of  courses  from  which  to  select, 
and  intelligent  guidance  of  pupils  toward  preparation  for  a 
life  of  useful  service. 

New  conceptions  as  to  educational  needs.  As  our  civili- 
zation grows  in  complexity,  as  the  ramifications  of  our  social 
and  industrial  life  become  more  extended,  as  production 
becomes  more  specialized  and  the  ability  to  change  voca- 
tions more  limited,  as  our  political  life  becomes  wider  and 
the  duties  and  obligations  of  citizenship  more  important,  as 
our  place  in  world  affairs  becomes  larger,  and  as  the  privi- 
leges conferred  and  the  responsibility  for  proper  living  rest- 
ing on  each  individual  in  society  increase,  the  nature  and 
extent  of  the  education  offered  as  preparation  for  life  must 
correspondingly  increase.  An  education  which  was  en- 
tirely satisfactory  to  meet  the  needs  of  the  simpler  form  of 
our  social  and  industrial  national  life  of  the  sixties  or  the 


412  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

eighties  is  utterly  inadequate  for  the  complex  life  of  the 
twentieth  century.  All  this  has  come  to  be  generally  recog- 
nized to-day,  and  in  consequence  our  American  States  are 
providing  for  the  further  establishment  of  more  high  schools 
and  new  types  of  high  schools,  extending  the  compulsory 
school  age  upward,  and  offering  the  advantages  of  secondary 
education  to  as  many  of  our  children  as  can  advantageously 
use  what  the  schools  have  to  give. 

II.  The  Development  of  Vocational  Education 
Vocational  education  in  Europe  and  the  United  States. 
For  more  than  half  a  century  the  leading  countries  of  West- 
ern Europe,  in  an  effort  to  readjust  their  age-old  apprentice- 
ship system  of  training  to  modern  conditions  of  manufacture, 
have  given  careful  attention  to  the  education  of  such  of 
their  children  as  were  destined  for  the  vocations  of  the  in- 
dustrial world.  Germany,  Austria,  Switzerland,  and  France 
have  been  leaders,  with  Germany  most  prominent  of  all. 
No  small  part  of  the  great  progress  made  by  that  country  in 
securing  world-wide  trade,  before  the  World  War,  was  due  to 
the  extensive  and  thorough  system  of  vocational  education 
worked  out  for  German  youths.  The  marked  economic 
progress  of  Switzerland  during  the  past  quarter-century  has 
likewise  been  due  in  large  part  to  that  type  of  education 
which  would  enable  her,  by  skillful  artisanship,  to  make  the 
most  of  her  very  limited  resources.  France  has  profited 
greatly,  during  the  past  half-century  also,  from  vocational 
education  along  the  lines  of  agriculture  and  industrial  art. 
In  Denmark,  agricultural  education  has  remade  the  nation 
since  the  days  of  its  humiliation  and  spoliation  at  the  hands 
of  Prussia. 

In  the  United  States  but  little  attention  has  been  given  to 
educating  for  the  vocations  of  life  until  within  the  past  ten 
years,  though  modern  manufacturing  conditions  had  before 
this  destroyed  the  old  apprenticeship  type  of  training.  En- 
dowed with  enormous  natural  resources,  not  being  pressed 
for  the  means  of  subsistence  by  a  rapidly  expanding  popula- 


NEW  DIRECTIONS  OF  EFFORT 


413 


tion  on  a  limited  land  area,  able  to  draw  on  Europe  for 
both  cheap  manual  labor  and  technically-educated  workers, 
largely  isolated  and  self-sufficient  as  a  nation,  lacking  a 
merchant  marine,  not  be- 
ing thrown  into  severe 
competition  for  interna- 
tional trade,  and  able  to 
sell  our  products  to  na- 
tions anxious  to  buy  them 
and  willing  to  come  for 
them  in  their  own  ships, 
we  have  not  up  to  recently 
felt  any  particular  need 
for  anything  other  than  a 
good  common-school  edu- 
cation or  a  general  high- 
school  education  for  our 
workers.  The  commercial 
course  in  the  high  school, 
the 

schools  and  courses,  and 
some  instruction  in  draw- 
ing and  creative  art  have  been  felt  to  be  about  all  we  needed 
to  provide. 

Beginnings  of  vocational  education  with  us.  Largely 
within  the  past  ten  years,  due  in  part  to  our  expanding  com- 
merce and  increasing  competition  in  world  trade,  in  part  to 
the  new  educational  impulses  arising  out  of  our  new  world 
position  following  the  Spanish-American  War,  in  part  to 
the  increasing  world-wide  demand  for  foodstuffs  and  manu- 
factured articles,  and  in  part  to  a  growing  realization  of  the 
many  advantages  that  would  accrue  to  us  as  a  nation  and 
to  our  workers  as  individuals  if  we  were  to  provide  better 
and  more  specific  types  of  education  for  those  who  are  to 
labor,  we  have  at  last  turned  our  attention  in  a  really  serious 
manner  to  the  many  problems  surrounding  the  establish- 
ment of  schools  of  secondary  grade  for  the  vocational  edu- 
cation of  our  workers. 


Fig.  73.  The  Destruction  of  the 
Trades  in  Modern  Industry 

Under  the  old  conditions  of  apprenticeship  a  boy 
learned  all  the  processes  and  became  a  tailor.  To- 
manual     training    day,  in  a  thoroughly  organized  clothing  factory, 
thirty-nine  different  persons  perform  different  spe- 
cialized operations  in  the  manufacture  of  a  coat. 


414  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

Due  to  our  early  national  importance  in  agriculture,  and 
the  endowment  in  each  State  of  a  college  of  agriculture  by 
the  Federal  Government,  in  1862  (page  210),  it  was  natural 
that  in  this  country  agricultural  education  for  pupils  of  high 
school  age  should  have  been  the  first  of  the  vocational  sub- 
jects to  be  developed.  The  first  publicly-supported  agri- 
cultural high  school,  as  was  stated  above,  was  founded  in 
1888,  and  since  1900  instruction  in  agriculture  has  become 
an  established  feature  of  American  school  life.  In  several 
of  our  American  States,  as  for  example  Alabama,  Georgia, 
Virginia,  Oklahoma,  and  Massachusetts,  a  number  of  state 
agricultural  high  schools  have  been  established  by  the  legis- 
lature. In  other  States,  among  them  Wisconsin,  Michigan, 
and  Maryland,  county  high  schools  of  agriculture  have  been 
established,  and  these  receive  state  aid  for  support.  Many 
of  the  agricultural  colleges  also  maintain  an  agricultural 
high  school  as  a  part  of  their  work,  and  a  number  of  cities 
have  recently  added  courses  in  agriculture  to  their  high 
schools.  Still  more,  instruction  in  elementary  agriculture 
has,  largely  in  the  past  fifteen  years,  been  added  by  law  to 
the  courses  of  instruction  in  the  rural  and  village  schools  in 
many  of  our  States. 

The  first  trade  school  in  the  United  States  was  established 
privately  in  New  York  City,  in  1881,  and  by  1900  some  half- 
dozen  schools  of  the  trade  or  industrial  type  had  been  estab- 
lished privately  in  different  parts  of  the  country.  Due  in 
part  to  the  whole  idea  being  new,  and  in  part  to  the  sus- 
picion of  organized  labor  that  such  schools  were  not  being 
founded  for  any  purpose  favorable  to  them,  the  develop- 
ment of  trade  education  came  slowly. 

The  National  Commission  on  Vocational  Education.  The 
fifteen  years  from  1902  to  1917  was  a  period  of  investigation, 
discussion,  and  growing  interest.  Commercial  bodies  and 
manufacturers'  organizations  sent  school  and  business  ex- 
perts to  Europe  to  investigate  and  report  on  the  work  of 
vocational  schools  in  the  different  European  nations;  state 
commissions  made  investigations  and  reports;  and  much 


NEW  DIRECTIONS  OF  EFFORT  415 

propaganda  work  was  done  by  volunteer  societies  interested 
in  establishing  vocational  education.  In  1906  Massachu- 
setts led  the  way  by  creating  a  State  Commission  on  Indus- 
trial Education,  with  power  to  superintend  the  creation  and 
maintenance  of  industrial  schools  for  boys  and  girls,  and 
appropriated  state  aid  therefor.  In  1907  Wisconsin  enacted 
the  first  trade-school  law,  authorizing  the  creation  of  indus- 
trial schools  by  the  cities  of  the  State.  The  Milwaukee 
School  of  Trades,  established  earlier,  now  was  taken  over 
and  made  a  part  of  the  city  school  system,  and  a  number  of 
trade  schools  were  established  in  other  cities.  In  1909  New 
York  similarly  permitted  the  organization  of  trade  schools 
in  cities.  Back  in  1902  the  Manhattan  Trade  School  for 
Girls  had  been  organized  privately  in  New  York  City,  and 
the  work  of  this  school  did  much  to  awaken  public  interest 
in  trade  education.  In  1910  it  was  made  a  part  of  the  free 
public  school  system  of  the  city. 

Had  we  depended  upon  isolated  state  and  local  action, 
though,  it  would  have  been  at  least  a  generation,  and  prob- 
ably longer,  before  anything  approaching  a  national  system 
of  vocational  education  would  have  been  evolved.  Realizing 
the  slow  rate  of  local  action,  those  interested  in  the  move- 
ment urged  the  creation  at  once  of  a  national  system  of 
vocational  schools,  with  national  aid  to  the  States  for  their 
maintenance.  The  Davis  bill  of  1907,  and  the  Page  bill  of 
1912,  were  unsuccessful  attempts  to  secure  national  encour- 
agement for  the  movement.  Finally  Congress,  in  1913, 
provided  for  a  Presidential  Commission  to  investigate  the 
matter  and  to  report  on  the  desirability  and  feasibility  of 
national  aid  for  the  promotion  of  vocational  training.  After 
a  careful  investigation  this  commission  reported,  in  June, 
1914,  and  submitted  a  plan  for  gradually  increasing  national 
aid  to  the  States  to  assist  them  in  developing  and  maintain- 
ing what  will  virtually  become  a  national  system  of  agricul- 
tural, trade,  and  vocational  education. 

The  commission's  findings.  The  commission  found  that 
there  were,  in  1910,  in  round  numbers,  12,500,000  persons 


416  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

engaged  in  agriculture  in  the  United  States,  of  whom  not 
over  one  per  cent  had  had  any  adequate  preparation  for 
farming;  and  that  there  were  14,250,000  persons  engaged  in 
manufacturing  and  mechanical  pursuits,  not  one  per  cent  of 
whom  had  had  any  opportunity  for  adequate  training.  In 
the  whole  United  States  there  were  fewer  trade  schools,  of 
all  kinds,  than  existed  in  the  little  German  kingdom  of 
Bavaria,  a  State  about  the  size  of  South  Carolina;  while  the 
one  Bavarian  city  of  Munich,  a  city  about  the  size  of  Pitts- 
burgh, had  more  trade  schools  than  were  to  be  found  in  all 
the  larger  cities  of  the  United  States,  put  together.  The 
commission  further  found  that  there  were  25,000,000  persons 
in  this  country,  eighteen  years  of  age  or  over,  engaged  in 
farming,  mining,  manufacturing,  mechanical  pursuits,  and  in 
trade  and  transportation,  and  concerning  these  the  Report 
said: 

If  we  assume  that  a  system  of  vocational  education,  pursued 
through  the  years  of  the  past,  would  have  increased  the  wage- 
earning  capacity  of  each  of  these  persons  to  the  extent  of  only  ten 
cents  a  day,  this  would  have  made  an  increase  of  wages  for  the 
group  of  $2,500,000  a  day,  or  $750,000,000  a  year,  with  all  that 
this  would  mean  to  the  wealth  and  life  of  the  nation. 

This  is  a  very  moderate  estimate,  and  the  facts  would  probably 
show  a  difference  between  the  earning  power  of  the  vocationally 
trained  and  the  vocationally  untrained  of  at  least  twenty-five 
cents  a  day.  This  would  indicate  a  waste  of  wages,  through  lack 
of  training,  amounting  to  $6,250,000  every  day,  or  $1,875,000,000 
for  the  year. 

The  commission  estimated  that  a  million  new  young  peo- 
ple were  required  annually  by  our  industries,  and  that  it 
would  need  three  years  of  vocational  education,  beyond  the 
elementary  school  age,  to  prepare  them  for  efficient  serv- 
ice. This  would  require  that  three  million  young  people  of 
secondary  school  age  be  continually  enrolled  in  schools  offer- 
ing some  form  of  vocational  training.  This  is  approxi- 
mately three  times  the  number  of  young  people  to-day  en- 
rolled in  all  public  and  private  high  schools  in  the  United 


NEW  DIRECTIONS  OF  EFFORT  417 

States.  In  addition,  the  untrained  adult  workers  now  in 
farming  and  industry  also  need  some  form  of  adult  or  exten- 
sion education  to  enable  them  to  do  more  effective  work. 
The  commission  further  pointed  out  that  there  were  in  this 
country,  in  1910,  7,220,298  young  people  between  the  ages 
of  fourteen  and  eighteen  years,  only  1,032,461  of  whom  were 
enrolled  in  a  high  school  of  any  type,  public  or  private,  day 
or  evening,  and  few  of  those  enrolled  were  pursuing  studies 
of  a  technical  type.  True  to  our  ancient  traditions,  our  high 
schools  were  still  largely  book-study  schools,  preparing  for 
political  activity  and  the  learned  professions,  and  not  for  the 
vocations  in  which  the  majority  of  men  and  working  women 
must  earn  their  living.    Continuing,  the  commission  said : 

At  present  this  vast  body  of  over  seven  million  youths  represents 
on  the  whole  an  untrained  army,  needing  vocational  training  to 
make  it  efficient.  It  has  been  estimated  that  the  total  cost  of 
bringing  a  child  from  birth  to  the  age  of  18  is  $4000,  or  $220  per 
year,  of  which  about  $60  per  year  comes  from  the  State.  If  we 
assume  that  it  would  require  on  the  average  an  additional  outlay 
of  $150  per  person  to  prepare  each  properly  for  usefulness,  so  that 
society  might  realize  more  fully  upon  its  vocational  and  civic  possi- 
bilities, certainly  no  business  man  would  hesitate  for  a  moment  to 
thus  secure  the  protection  of  the  sum  of  $4000. 

Since  commercial  prosperity  depends  largely  upon  the  skill  and 
well-being  of  our  workers,  the  outlook  for  American  commerce  in 
competition  with  our  more  enterprising  neighbors,  under  present 
conditions,  is  not  very  promising. 

It  is  even  more  short-sighted  of  the  State  and  Nation  to  neglect 
these  investments,  since  national  success  is  dependent  not  alone  on 
returns  in  dollars  and  cents,  but  in  civic  and  social  well-being. 

The  Smith-Hughes  Bill.  Bills  to  carry  out  the  recom- 
mendations of  the  commission  were  at  once  introduced  in 
both  branches  of  Congress,  in  the  Senate  by  Senator  Hoke 
Smith,  in  the  House  by  Representative  Hughes.  Presi- 
dent Wilson  early  expressed  himself  as  favoring  the  pro- 
posed legislation.  After  some  delay,  due  in  part  to  the 
outbreak  of  the  World  War,  the  bill  was  finally  passed,  and 
approved  by  the  President  on  February  23,  1917. 


418  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

The  law  provided  for  the  creation  of  a  Federal  Board  for 
Vocational  Education;  acceptance  of  the  law  by  the  States; 
national  aid  to  the  States  for  the  salaries  of  teachers  in  the 
schools  created,  which  aid  the  States  must  duplicate,  dollar 
for  dollar;  federal  supervision  of  work  and  expenditure;  and 
national  studies  and  investigations  regarding  needs  in  agri- 
culture, home  economics,  industry,  trade,  commerce,  and 
courses  of  instruction.  The  courses  must  be  given  in  public 
schools;  must  be  for  those  over  fourteen  years  of  age,  and 
be  of  less  than  college  grade;  and  must  be  primarily  intended 
for  those  who  are  preparing  to  enter  or  have  entered  a  trade 
or  useful  industrial  pursuit.  Both  full-time  and  part-time 
classes  are  provided  for. 

The  national  aid  is  divided  into  four  funds,  as  follows : 

1.  For  the  purpose  of  cooperating  with  the  States  in  paying  the 
salaries  of  teachers,  supervisors,  and  directors  of  agricultural  sub- 
jects, to  be  allotted  to  the  States  in  the  proportion  which  their 
rural  population  bears  to  the  total  rural  population  of  the  United 
States. 

2.  For  the  purpose  of  cooperating  with  the  States  in  paying  the 
salaries  of  teachers  of  trades,  home  economics,  and  industrial  sub- 
jects, to  be  allotted  to  the  States  in  the  proportion  which  their 
urban  population  bears  to  the  total  urban  population  of  the 
United  States. 

3.  For  the  purpose  of  cooperating  with  the  States  in  preparing 
teachers,  supervisors,  and  directors  of  agricultural  subjects  and 
teachers  of  trade  and  industrial  and  home  economics  subjects,  to 
be  allotted  to  the  States  in  the  proportion  which  their  population 
bears  to  the  total  population  of  the  United  States. 

4.  For  making  or  cooperating  in  studies,  investigations,  and 
reports  as  to  needs  and  courses  in  agriculture,  home  economics, 
trades,  industries,  and  commerce. 

The  sums  appropriated  by  Congress  increase  each  year 
for  nine  years,  when  the  maximum  will  be  reached,  and  are 
as  shown  in  the  accompanying  table.  The  bill  has  met  with 
general  acceptance  everywhere,  and  promises  in  a  decade  to 
give  us  a  really  national  system  of  vocational  training.  In 
all  probability,  before  1926  is  reached,  the  work  will  have  so 


NEW  DIRECTIONS  OF  EFFORT 


419 


For  trade, 

Ytar 

For  agricultural 

home  economics, 

For  training 

For  in- 

Total 

education 

and  indus- 

teachers of  both 

vestigations 

national  aid 

trial  education 

1917-18 

$500,000 

$500,000 

$500,000 

$200,000 

$1,700,000 

1918-19 

750,000 

750,000 

700,000 

200,000 

2,400,000 

1919-20 

1,000,000 

1,000,000 

900,000 

200,000 

3,100,000 

1920-21 

1,250,000 

1,250,000 

1,000,000 

200,000 

3,700,000 

1921-22 

1,500,000 

1,500,000 

1,000,000 

200,000 

4,200,000 

1922-23 

1,750,000 

1,750,000 

1,000,000 

200,000 

4,700,000 

1923-24 

2,000,000 

2,000,000 

1,000,000 

200,000 

5,200,000 

1924-25 

2,500,000 

2,500,000 

1,000,000 

200,000 

6,200,000 

1925-26* 

3,000,000 

3,000,000 

1,000,000 

200,000 

7,200,000 

*  Reaches  the  maximum  this  year,  and  continues  at  this  sum. 

justified  the  expenditure  that  the  appropriations  of  national 
aid  will  be  further  increased. 

The  American  high  school,  as  a  result  of  nearly  a  century 
of  progress  and  evolution,  now  has  evolved  into  an  Ameri- 
can system  of  secondary  education,  in  turn  leading  to  en- 
trance to  higher  schools  or  to  life  occupations  and  profes- 
sions, somewhat  as  shown  on  the  following  chart. 


[Fanning  and  Engineering  |  |     Higher  Professional  Schools 


Agricultural  and 
Mechanical  Colleges 


Graduate 
School  of 
Education 


University  Schools 

and  Departments 

Liberal-Arts  Colleges 


Business 

and 

Industrial 

Life 


The  Original  American 
High  School 


Fio.  74.  The  Recent  Expansion  of  the  High  School  and  thb 
College 


Vocational  guidance.  Under  earlier  conditions  such  a 
thing  as  the  vocational  guidance  of  youth  was  unnecessary, 
but  with  the  growing  complexity  of  industrial  society  and 


420 


EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 


the  minute  subdivision  of  the  old  trades,  vocational  guidance 
has  recently  assumed  an  entirely  new  importance.  The 
idea  underlying  it  is  not  primarily  to  find  jobs  for  young 
people,  but  rather  to  provide  parents  and  pupils  with  in- 
formation as  to  the  demands  and  opportunities  in  the  differ- 
ent life  careers,  and  the  best  means  of  preparing  for  and 
entering  them.  The  real  purpose  is  to  sort  out  capacities 
and  adaptabilities,  to  prolong  preparation  in  school,  and  to 
steer  young  people  away  from  vocations  for  which  they  have 
no  natural  aptitude  and  from  essentially  "blind-alley 
occupations." 


MINIMUM  AND  MAXIMUM 
WAGES  OF  GIRLS  WTTHOOt 
TRAINING 

14  TO  20  YBAR3  OF  AOS 


ABB  Maximum 
WM  Minimum 


MINIMUM  AND  MAXIMUM 
WASeS     WAGES  OF  GIRLS  WITH 
♦AftjfiO  TRAINING 

16  TO  20  YEARS  OF  AGE 
18.00 
17.QQ 
16.00 

ts.oo 
«+.oo 

18.00' 

ig.oo 

11.00 
10.00 

9.00 

e.oo 

7.00, 

5.0C 


2-OQ 
1.00 


Fig.  75.  What  Vocational  Training  and  Guidance  can  do 

In  training  girls  for  better  occupations  and  guiding  them  away  from  "blind-alley"  jobs. 
(From  a  chart  in  Ellis's  Money  Value  of  Education,  p.  26.) 

The  movement  is  quite  recent,  going  back  scarcely  beyond 
1907,  when  a  bureau  for  advising  young  men  in  the  choice  of 
a  vocation  was  opened  in  Boston.  In  1909  this  grew  into 
a  Vocational  Bureau,  which  soon  became  connected  in  its 
work  with  the  public  schools,  business  houses,  and  manu- 
facturing establishments.  Lectures  as  to  careers  were  given 
to  the  upper  classes  in  the  elementary  schools;  printed  mat- 
ter as  to  vocations  was  distributed;  vocational  counselors 


NEW  DIRECTIONS  OF  EFFORT  421 

were  appointed  in  all  the  schools,  and  pupil  record-cards 
were  made  out.  Boston  soon  became  the  center  of  the  move- 
ment, and  from  there  it  has  spread  rapidly  all  over  the  United 
States.  By  1910  thirty-five  cities  were  at  work  on  the  idea. 
To-day  it  is  an  educational  conception  accepted  generally, 
and  schools  everywhere  are  thinking  and  acting  on  the  idea. 
The  study  of  life-careers  for  boys  and  girls  has  been  intro- 
duced into  many  schools,  and  intelligent  planning  for  one's 
life-work  has  been  emphasized.  Instead  of  leaving  school 
and  accepting  the  first  job  that  offers,  regardless  of  adapta- 
bility or  the  future  it  may  hold  or  its  influence  on  life  and 
health,  the  attempt  is  made  to  save  boys  and  girls  from  mis- 
takes before  it  is  too  late  to  change.  In  giving  such  guidance 
the  school  is  not  only  making  its  own  education  more  effec- 
tive, but  is  also  protecting  society  from  the  dangers  that 
arise  when  adults  find  themselves  in  work  for  which  they 
have  no  aptitude  and  in  which  they  cannot  support  a  family. 

III.  Public  School  Extension 
Evening  schools.  The  first  evening  school  in  the  United 
States  was  established  in  Louisville,  as  early  as  1834.  Bal- 
timore organized  six  evening  schools  as  early  as  1840.  In 
1847  the  new  Board  of  Education  for  New  York  City  (p.  178) 
was  permitted  by  law  to  organize  evening  schools  for  males, 
ell  as  day  schools,  and  similar  permission  was  extended 
for  females,  in  1848,  and  to  Brooklyn,  in  1850.  The 
first  general  state  law  for  evening  schools  was  enacted  by 
Ohio,  in  1839,  and  evening  schools  were  opened  in  Cincin- 
nati the  following  year.  Massachusetts  followed  with  a 
similar  optional  law  in  1847.  In  1855  Cincinnati  also 
opened  evening  schools  for  girls.  The  first  public  evening 
high  school  was  opened  in  Cincinnati,  in  1856,  and  similar 
schools  were  opened  in  New  York  City  in  1866,  Chicago  and 
St.  Louis  in  1868,  Philadelphia  in  1869,  and  Boston  in  1870. 
By  1870  there  were  60  public  evening  high  schools  in  the 
I  failed  States,  and  a  number  of  evening  elementary  schools. 
By  1881  32  cities  were  providing  evening  schools;  by  1900, 


422 


EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 


165;  by  1909,  233;  and  by  1916  the  number  had  increased  to 
458,  with  647,861  pupils  enrolled.  That  even  this  number 
makes  as  yet  no  adequate  provision  for  the  education  of  our 
approximately  10,000,000  young  people  between  the  ages  of 
fourteen  and  twenty  may  be  seen  from  the  following  chart. 


ioo  i 


Fig.  76.  School  Attendance  op  American  Children,  Fourteen  to 
Twenty  Years  of  Age 

Based  on  an  estimate  made  by  the  United  States  Bureau  of  Education  in  1907  (Bulletin 
No.  1,  1907,  p.  £9),  and  based  on  conditions  then  existing.  Since  the  World  War  the  per- 
centage not  in  any  school  doubtless  has  increased.  In  evening  schools  all  classes  are  counted, 
—  public,  private,  Y.M.C.A.,  Y.W.C.A.,  etc.  Public  and  private  day  schools,  both  elemen- 
tary and  secondary,  also  are  counted. 

Originally  evening  schools  were  begun  to  provide  educa- 
tion for  those  unable  to  attend  during  the  day,  and  such 
continued  to  be  their  important  function  up  to  about  1900. 
Since  that  time,  however,  the  evening  school,  both  elemen- 
tary and  high,  has  been  greatly  expanded  and  materially 
changed  in  character.  With  the  more  general  enforcement 
of  compulsory  education,  the  urgent  need  for  providing 
duplicate  elementary  schools  for  children  at  work  during  the 
day  has  in  large  part  disappeared,  as  such  children  are  now 


NEW  DIRECTIONS  OF  EFFORT  423 

required  to  attend  day  elementary  schools  until  they  are 
fourteen  to  sixteen  years  of  age.  In  consequence,  evening 
elementary  schools  are  now  chiefly  useful,  in  States  enforcing 
a  good  compulsory-education  law,  in  providing  the  foreign- 
born  with  the  elements  of  an  English  education.  As  this 
change  has  come,  the  evening  high  schools  have  grown 
vastly  in  importance.  While  continuing  to  offer  cultural 
studies  for  those  who  have  completed  the  elementary  schools 
and  wish,  while  working,  to  continue  study,  they  have  now 
largely  become  schools  for  study  along  scientific,  technical, 
home  arts,  commercial,  and  industrial  lines.  A  few  use  the 
evening  high  schools  to  prepare  for  entrance  to  college  or  a 
technical  school,  but  the  large  majority  attend  them  to  at- 
tain greater  efficiency  in  the  occupations  in  which  they  are 
engaged.  Technical,  home  arts,  trade,  and  business  studies 
are  in  greatest  demand.  The  enactment  of  the  Smith- 
Hughes  bill  is  certain  to  result  in  a  further  marked  expan- 
sion of  the  evening  high  school  along  vocational  lines.  Such 
studies  as  applied  mathematics,  navigation,  mechanical 
drawing,  machine  design,  engineering  subjects,  physics, 
chemistry,  the  various  trades,  automobile  work,  salesman- 
ship, home  economics,  accounting,  business  management, 
and  similar  studies,  now  hold  a  prominent  place  in  evening 
high  school  work. 

By  way  of  illustration,  one  city  of  65,000  inhabitants, 
located  in  the  upper  Mississippi  Valley,  offered  the  following 
work  in  its  evening  vocational  school  in  1917-18: 

For  Boys  For  Boys 

I.  Woodwork.  III.  Electrical  work. 

1.  Wood-turning  and  pattern-  1.  Electrical  wiring. 

making.  2.  Electric  signs. 

2.  Cabinet-making,  finishing.  3.  Installation,  maintenance, 

3.  Carpentry,  joinery,  stair-  operation,  and  repairing 

building.  motors  and  generators. 

II.  Printing.  IV.    Metal-work. 

1.  Composition.  1.  Forging. 

2.  Presswork.  2.  Plumbing. 

3.  Proof-Reading.  3.  Sheet-metal  work. 


424  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 


For  Boys 

For  Girls 

[V.  Metal-work  {continued). 

1.  Millinery. 

4.  Auto  repairing. 

2.  Home-making. 

5.  Machine-shop  practice. 

3.  Dressmaking. 

V.  Commercial    illustrating    and 

4.  Cooking,  catering. 

design. 

5.  Applied  art  and  design. 

VI.  Draughting. 

6.  Salesmanship. 

1.  Mechanical  drawing. 

7.  Machine  operating. 

2.  Architectural  drafting. 

8.  Dry  cleaning,  dyeing. 

8.  Making  and  reading  blue- 

prints. 

Academic  Work,  both  sexes 

4.  Sheet-metal  draughting. 

1.  English. 

5.  Machine  designing. 

2.  Applied  mathematics. 

3.  Applied  science. 

Both  Sexes 

4.  Industrial  geography 

Two-year    commercial    course 

5.  History. 

open  to  8th  grade  graduates. 

6.  Citizenship. 

Adult  education.  Compared  with  England  and  France, 
the  United  States  has  as  yet  done  but  little  with  adult  educa- 
tion. What  has  been  done  has  been  chiefly  along  the  lines 
of  evening  school  classes  for  adults,  evening  lectures  in  the 
schoolhouses  on  topics  of  general  interest,  some  efforts  here 
and  there  at  the  elimination  of  adult  illiteracy,  farmers'  in- 
stitutes conducted  by  the  agricultural  colleges,  and  some 
university  extension  work  by  the  state  universities.  What 
has  been  done  so  far,  though,  marks  but  a  beginning  of 
what  the  coming  decade  is  certain  to  demand  as  new  phases 
of  the  educational  service.  As  new  national  needs  arise,  the 
conception  of  public  education  must  broaden  to  meet  them. 
Some  of  the  more  important  phases  of  recent  educational 
extension  may  be  mentioned. 

Adult  illiterates.  The  World  War  brought  seriously  to 
our  attention  what  our  Census  statistics  had  for  some  time 
been  showing,  viz.  that  we  have  among  us  a  large  body  of 
illiterate  adult  males  who  possess  little  or  no  ability  to  use 
the  English  language.  Many,  though  naturalized,  we  now 
find  know  and  care  little  for  us  or  our  democratic  institutions 
and  government.  The  chart  showing  the  nativity  of  the 
foreign-born  in  1910  (p.  337)  reveals  something  of  the  char- 


NEW  DIRECTIONS  OF  EFFORT 


425 


acter  of  the  immigrants  we  have  among  us.  The  two  circu- 
lar charts  below  show  the  character  of  the  male  voting  popu- 
lation in  the  United  States,  and  the  ability  of  the  foreign-born 
to  use  our  common  language,  as  shown  by  the  Census 
of  1910.     The  situation  disclosed  by  these  charts  is  not  a 


Distribution  of  26.999,16tmalea 
of  voting  age  as  to  nativity 


Distribution  of  6,646,817  foreign-born. 

males  of  voting  age 

with  reference  to  use  of  english 


Fig.  77.  Distribution  of  the  Male  Voting  Population  of  the  United 
States,  as  to  Birth  and  Ability  to  speak  English.  (From  the  Cen- 
sus of  1910). 


particularly  agreeable  one.  Still  more,  the  problem  is  worst 
in  our  large  cities,  where  assimilation  is  most  difficult.  The 
Census  of  1910  showed  that,  for  the  ten  largest  cities  of  the 
country,  the  percentage  of  the  population  in  each  which 
could  not  speak  English  was  as  follows: 

Per  Cent 

Chicago 24 

Detroit 25 

Buffalo 27 

Pittsburgh 28 

Cleveland 31 


Per  Cent 

San  Francisco 7 

Boston 11 

Philadelphia 18 

St.  Louis 19 

New  York 23 


In  our  recent  army  draft  eight  per  cent  of  all  the  young  men 
called  up  could  understand  no  English,  and  an  almost  equal 
additional  number  could  understand  so  little  as  scarcely  to 


426  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

be  able  to  follow  commands.     Such  conditions  are  a  serious 
menace  to  our  national  welfare. 

While  providing  schooling  for  such  of  the  children  of  the 
foreign-born  as  choose  to  attend  public  rather  than  parochial 
schools,  we  have,  through  all  our  history,  left  to  chance  the 
Americanization  of  the  adults.  The  outbreak  of  the  World 
War,  and  the  beginning  of  hostile  propaganda  among  our 
people  by  the  agents  of  Germany  and  Austria-Hungary, 
brought  forcibly  to  our  attention  the  fact  that  we  have  for 
long  reposed  in  a  false  security.  A  long  list  of  strikes  among 
foreign-born  colonies  in  our  munition  factories;  "accidents" 
and  explosions  on  docks  and  ships;  the  burning  of  barns  and 
crops;  the  formation  of  "leagues"  and  "societies"  inter- 
ested in  other  than  our  national  welfare;  meetings  of  alien 
races  for  racial  ends;  the  new  prominence  of  the  I.W.W.;  the 
prominence  given  to  the  hyphen  by  the  German-Americans, 
Irish- Americans,  and  others;  the  activity  of  the  foreign- 
language  press,  and  even  the  traitorous  nature  of  some  of 
the  newspapers  previously  regarded  as  American;  —  these 
and  many  other  happenings  led  us  quickly  to  see  that  we 
had  in  the  past  been  very  negligent,  and  that  we  are  now 
facing  a  vast  social  problem  involving  our  national  security 
and  unity  and  the  preservation  of  our  national  ideals.  Na- 
tional safety  and  national  welfare  alike  demand  that  our 
schools  now  engage  in  a  systematic  and  organized  en- 
deavor to  educate  the  foreign-born  in  the  principles  and 
ideals  of  our  democracy,  and  to  make  English  our  one  com- 
mon tongue.  In  a  recent  bulletin  on  the  subject  the  danger 
was  well  stated  in  the  following  words : 

The  government  of  the  United  States  is  a  government  by  repre- 
sentation, and  its  integrity  and  effectiveness  depend  upon  the  intel- 
ligence of  all  the  people.  This  intelligence  rests  mainly  upon  the 
easy  transfer  of  thought  and  information  from  one  person  to  an- 
other by  means  of  the  spoken  word  and  the  printed  page.  In  an 
illiterate  community  the  sense  of  civic  responsibility  is  at  its  lowest, 
and  disease,  social  isolation,  and  industrial  inefficiency  are  found 
in  highest  degree. 


NEW  DIRECTIONS  OF  EFFORT 


427 


It  is  difficult  for  those  who  can  read  easily  to  form  even  a  bare 
conception  of  the  mental  limitations  of  the  illiterate,  the  near- 
illiterate,  and  the  non-reader.  It  is  still  harder  to  appreciate  the 
material  handicaps  to  earning  a  livelihood  entailed  by  illiteracy. 
While  illiteracy  does  not  necessarily  imply  ignorance,  it  does  predi- 
cate lack  of  information,  comprehension,  and  understanding.  It 
increases  prejudice,  suspicion,  and  passion,  and  diminishes  natural 
appreciation  and  power  to  cooperate;  yet  cooperation  is  the  essence 
of  modern  civilization,  and  inability  to  cooperate  is  the  basis  of 
race  hatred.  So  that  illiteracy  is  clearly  a  topic  for  national  solici- 
tude, and  its  eradication  a  proper  subject  for  governmental  action. 

Citizenship  classes.  In  1915-16,  under  the  lead  of  the 
United  States  Bureau  of  Education,  our  cities  made  the 
beginnings,  through  their  adult  citizenship  classes,  of  what 
now  seems  destined  to 
grow  into  a  great  cam- 
paign for  the  better  as- 
similation of  the  adult 
foreign-born,  and  the 
stamping-out  not  only 
of  illiteracy,  but  of  the 
lack  of  ability  to  use 
and  understand  the 
English  language  as 
well.  We  have  in  the 
past  cared  little  as  to 
whether  those  coming 
among  us  became  na- 
turalized or  not,  and 
we  have  even  admitted 
those  still  owing  alleg- 
iance to  other  nations  to  important  positions  in  local,  state, 
and  even  national  governmental  work.  We  have  had  legal 
requirements  for  naturalization,  to  be  sure,  but  no  facilities 
have  been  provided  to  enable  the  foreign-born  to  meet  these 
requirements.  We  have  required  the  ability  to  "  understand 
English,"  and  that  the  applicant  be  "attached  to  the  prin- 
ciples of  the  Constitution,"  but  we  have  provided  no  pre- 


1910  '14      1920 


Fig.  78.  Who  Constitute  our 
Illiterates 


428  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

citizenship  education,  and  the  naturalization  proceedings 
before  judges,  especially  about  election  time,  have  too  fre- 
quently been  mere  farces. 

We  see  now  that  our  schools  must  at  once  take  on  another 
new  function,  that  of  providing  special  classes  and  night 
schools,  on  an  adequate  scale,  that  will  induct  the  foreign- 
born  into  the  use  of  English  as  his  common  speech,  and  pre- 
pare him  for  naturalization  by  training  him  in  the  history 
and  principles  of  our  government,  thus  fitting  him  for  proper 
membership  in  our  national  life  by  educating  him  along 
political,  social,  industrial,  and  sanitary  lines.  He,  and  she, 
must  be  educated  for  good  citizenship  if  they  are  to  remain 
among  us. 

The  school  as  a  community  center.  One  important  recent 
effort  looking  in  this  direction  is  the  one  to  transform  the 
public  school  house  from  a  mere  day  school  for  children  into 
a  usable  center  for  the  entire  community  life.  In  the 
eighties  the  schoolhouses  of  our  cities  were  used  only  be- 
tween nine  in  the  morning  and  three  or  four  in  the  afternoon, 
and  for  from  150  to  180  days  in  the  year-  The  remainder 
of  the  time  the  school  plant  stood  idle,  and  boys  and  girls 
were  not  allowed  even  about  the  grounds.  The  buildings 
usually  contained  only  classrooms  and  an  office,  and  were 
not  adapted  to  other  than  day-school  uses.  To-day,  every- 
where, the  tendency  is  to  change  these  earlier  conditions, 
and  to  put  the  school  plant  to  the  largest  possible  commu- 
nity use.  Through  playgrounds,  school  gardens,  vacation 
schools,  and  evening  schools,  our  school  grounds  and  school 
buildings  in  the  cities  and  towns  give  much  more  service 
than  formerly.  As  new  school  buildings  have  been  erected 
and  old  ones  rebuilt,  they  have  been  better  fitted  for  use 
by  the  addition  of  an  assembly  hall,  play  rooms,  a  science 
room,  a  library  room,  and  rooms  for  manual-training  and 
household  arts.  Some  also  have  workshops,  baths,  swim- 
ming-pools, and  a  gymnasium. 

As  this  more  extensive  and  more  expensive  equipment 
has  been  added  to  the  schools;  as  the  need  for  new  efforts  to 


NEW  DIRECTIONS  OF  EFFORT  429 

assimilate  the  new  classes  in  society  has  become  evident;  and 
as  an  increased  participation  in  the  functions  of  government 
through  the  initiative,  referendum,  recall,  primary,  and 
women's  suffrage  has  come  about,  along  with  an  increasing 
cosmopolitanism  in  our  people;  the  demand  has  come  that 
the  public  school,  as  the  one  great,  active,  unifying,  non- 
racial,  non-political,  non-sectarian  force  in  our  national  life, 
should  take  upon  itself  a  new  service  and  make  of  itself  a 
center  for  the  formation  and  education  of  community  senti- 
ment. As  the  school  plant  already  belongs  to  the  people,  it 
has  also  been  demanded  that  it  be  put  to  a  more  constant 
after-school  use  for  the  benefit  of  the  community  about  it. 

This  has  been  done  in  many  cities,  and  in  a  few  rural  com- 
munities as  well.  Starting  almost  entirely  since  1900,  sta- 
tistics collected  by  the  United  States  Bureau  of  Education 
show  that  518  cities  carried  on  community-center  activities 
in  their  school  buildings  in  1915-16.  These  activities  in- 
cluded lectures,  on  all  kinds  of  human  welfare  topics,  enter- 
tainments, adult  society  meetings,  clubs  for  civic  discussion, 
public  meetings,  dramatics,  parties,  social  dancing,  ban- 
quets, quiet  reading  and  study,  and  the  like.  In  463  cities, 
for  which  the  figures  are  complete,  the  school  buildings  were 
open  on  approximately  60,000  evenings,  and  the  attendance 
approximately  4,400,000  persons. 

The  aim  has  been  to  make  the  public  school  building  a 
center  for  the  life  of  the  community;  to  extend  the  work  of 
the  school  into  the  homes,  and  thus  influence  the  civic  and 
social  welfare  of  the  people;  and  to  broaden  the  popular 
conception  of  education  by  making  it  a  life-long  process. 
A  recent  writer  puts  the  matter  well  when  he  says : 

\Vhen  it  is  remembered  that  only  ten  per  cent  of  the  adult  citi- 
zens have  had  a  high  school  education,  and  only  fifty  per  cent  have 
ever  completed  the  grammar  grades,  it  becomes  apparent  that  one 
of  our  great  national  needs  is  a  popular  university  for  the  education 
of  grown  men  and  women.  The  public  school  as  a  community 
center  is  the  answer  to  this  national  need.  The  community -center 
movement  recognizes  the  fact  that  the  mind  matures  more  slowly 


430  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

than  the  body,  and  that  education  is  a  life-long  process.  While 
the  public  school  is  dedicated  primarily  to  the  welfare  of  the  child, 
it  is  becoming  daily  more  evident  that  the  Nation's  welfare  requires 
it  to  be  used  for  adults  and  youths  as  well.  Notwithstanding  the 
fact  that  it  is  our  finest  American  invention  and  the  most  successful 
social  enterprise  undertaken,  its  golden  age  lies  before  it.  It  is 
now  being  discovered  anew  in  its  possibilities  for  larger  service. 
The  fact  that  all  men  desire  knowledge  is  the  fact  which  has  justi- 
fied the  investment  of  $1,347,000,000  in  the  public  school  equip- 
ment; it  is  the  fact  which  now  justifies  the  use  of  this  equipment 
for  adults.  In  every  part  of  the  country  there  is  a  manifest  tend- 
ency for  the  public  school  to  develop  into  a  house  of  the  people 
to  be  used  by  them  "for  mutual  aid  in  self-development."  This  is 
the  significant  fact  at  the  heart  of  the  community-center  move- 
ment, and  the  touchstone  of  its  value  to  the  national  welfare. 

Agricultural  extension.  By  an  Act  of  Congress,  approved 
May  8,  1914,  and  commonly  known  as  the  Smith-Lever 
Cooperative  Agricultural  Extension  Act,  Congress  made  the 
beginnings  of  what  must  ultimately  prove  to  be  a  very  im- 
portant national  movement  for  adult  education  along  the 
lines  of  the  improvement  of  agriculture  and  rural  home-life. 
It  provides  for  national  aid  to  the  States  for  "the  diffusion 
among  the  people  of  useful  and  practical  information  on 
subjects  relating  to  agriculture  and  home  economics,  and  to 
encourage  the  application  of  the  same,"  the  work  to  be 
under  the  direction  of  the  United  States  Department  of 
Agriculture  and  to  be  done  by  the  Agricultural  Colleges  in 
each  State.  The  work  must  "consist  of  the  giving  of  in- 
struction and  practical  demonstrations  in  agriculture  and 
home  economics  "  to  persons  not  attending  the  colleges.  An 
important  part  of  the  educational  work  is  to  be  through  pub- 
lications. For  aiding  the  work  the  accompanying  schedule 
of  national  aid  to  the  States  is  provided. 

The  amount  for  printing  and  disseminating  information 
is  to  be  distributed  evenly  among  the  States,  but  the  amount 
for  extension  work  is  to  be  distributed  to  the  States  in  the 
proportion  that  the  rural  population  in  each  State  bears  to 
the  total  rural  population  of  the  United  States.     Each 


NEW  DIRECTIONS  OF  EFFORT 


431 


Year 

For  printing  and 
distributing  infor- 
mation 

For  rural  extension 
work 

Total 

national 

aid 

1014-15  

$480,000 
480,000 
480,000 
480,000 
480,000 
480,000 
480,000 
480,000 
480,000 

$600,000 
1,100,000 
1,600,000 
2,100,000 
2,600,000 
8,100,000 
3,600,000 
4,100,000 

$480,000 

1915-16  

1,080,000 

1916-17  

1,580,000 

1917-18  .  . 

2,080,000 

1918-19  

1919-20  

2,580,000 
3,080,000 

1920-21  

3,580,000 

1921-22    . 

4,080,000 
4,580,000 

1922-23* 

*  Reaches  the  maximum  this  year,  and  continues  at  this  sum  thereafter. 

State  must  double,  from  state  sources,  all  national  aid  re- 
ceived. The  far-reaching  future  importance  of  this  new 
educational  effort  toward  improving  crops,  stocks,  and  rural 
home-life  among  our  people  can  hardly  be  overestimated. 
The  rural  teacher  should  know  and  keep  in  touch  with  this 
new  work. 


IV.  University  Expansion  and  Extension 
Expansion  of  the  original  college.  In  Chapter  VII  we 
traced  briefly  the  rise  of  the  state  university  as  the  crown  of 
the  school  system  of  the  State,  and  the  endowment  by  Con- 
gress, in  1862,  of  an  entirely  new  type  of  higher  instruction 
in  the  colleges  of  agriculture  and  mechanic  arts.  One  of  the 
earliest  of  these  new  institutions  to  become  established,  as 
well  as  one  of  the  most  heavily  endowed,  was  Cornell  Uni- 
versity, in  New  York,  opened  in  1868.  This  institution, 
and  the  State  University  of  Michigan,  together  rendered  a 
very  valuable  pioneer  service,  during  the  quarter-century 
following  the  opening  of  Cornell,  in  marking  out  new  lines 
of  collegiate  activity  and  new  relationships  between  the  col- 
leges and  the  high  schools  beneath.  At  Cornell  University 
instruction  in  science,  agriculture,  and  engineering  was 
placed  on  an  entirely  new  footing,  and  the  instruction  in  the 


432  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

older  subjects  of  the  college  curriculum  was  both  broadened 
and  deepened.  Michigan  was  one  of  the  first  state  universi- 
ties to  free  itself  from  the  hampering  influences  of  state  poli- 
tics on  the  one  hand  and  sectarian  influences  on  the  other; 
to  open  its  doors  to  women  on  the  same  terms  as  men  (1870) ; 
to  begin  the  development  of  instruction  in  history  (1857), 
education  (1879),  and  government  (1881),  with  a  view  to 
serving  the  State;  and  to  examine  and  accredit  the  high 
schools  (1871)  and  receive  pupils  from  accredited  schools 
into  its  freshman  class  without  examination. 

Before  1850  the  colleges  usually  offered  but  one  course, 
based  on  Greek,  Latin,  and  Mathematics,  known  as  the 
classical  course,  and  leading  to  the  A.B.  degree.  Brown 
offered  a  parallel  course,  without  Greek  and  emphasizing 
more  modern  studies,  in  1851,  leading  to  the  Ph.B.  degree. 
Harvard  organized  the  Lawrence  Scientific  School,  in  1851, 
with  instruction  in  science,  and  leading  to  the  B.S.  degree, 
and  Yale  made  a  similar  organization  in  the  Sheffield  Scien- 
tific School,  in  1852.  Dartmouth  and  Rochester  also  estab- 
lished courses  for  the  B.S.  degree  in  1852,  Michigan  in  1853, 
and  Columbia  a  course  for  the  Ph.B.  degree  in  1864.  By 
1880  our  colleges  were  offering  three  or  four  parallel  courses, 
much  as  the  high  schools  did  twenty  years  later.  These  led 
to  different  degrees  —  B.A.,  B.L.,  B.S.,  and  Ph.B.  Gradu- 
ate instruction  was  also  organized,  and  courses  leading  to 
the  A.M.,  M.S.,  and  Ph.D.  degrees  was  in  time  provided. 
The  first  Ph.D.  degree  granted  in  the  United  States  was  by 
Yale,  in  1851.  Few  others  were  granted  by  our  universities 
before  the  opening  of  the  first  distinctively  graduate  uni- 
versity —  Johns  Hopkins,  at  Baltimore,  in  1876. 

Creation  of  new  chairs  and  schools.  With  the  creation  of 
new  chairs  to  represent  new  subjects  of  study,  or  subdivi- 
sions of  old  subjects,  which  became  common  after  about 
1875,  the  next  tendency  was  to  reorganize  the  colleges  by 
departments,  such  as  Greek,  Latin,  English,  history,  mathe- 
matics, physics,  biology,  etc.  This  became  the  common 
form  of  organization  for  the  larger  universities  after  about 


NEW  DIRECTIONS  OF  EFFORT  433 

1890,  and  still  continues.  With  the  very  rapid  increase  in 
the  quantity  of  knowledge,  and  the  subdivision  of  old  sub- 
jects into  many  new  chairs,  the  more  recent  tendency  has 
been  to  re-group  the  university  into  a  series  of  colleges  and 
schools.  To-day  a  large  state  university  would  include 
most  or  all  of  the  following  colleges,  schools,  or  divisions, 
each  subdivided  into  a  number  of  departments  or  branches 
of  knowledge,  and  often  leading  to  separate  degrees. 

1.  The  college  of  liberal  arts.  11.  The  school  of  law. 

2.  The  college  of  engineering.  12.  The  school  of  medicine. 

3.  The  college  of  agriculture.  13.  The  school  of  veterinary  medi- 

4.  The  school  of  history  and  eco-  cine. 

nomics.  14.  The  school  of  pharmacy. 

5.  The  school  of  pure  science.  15.  The  school  of  dentistry. 

6.  The  school  of  education.  16.  The  school  of  forestry. 

7.  The  school  of  household  arts.  17.  The  school  of  mining. 

8.  The  school  of  fine  arts.  18.  The  school  of  architecture. 

9.  The  school  of  business  adminis-  19.  The  university -extension  divi- 

tration.  sion. 

10.  The  school  of  journalism.  20.  The  summer-session  division. 

Social  significance  of  this  great  expansion.  All  this  rapid 
development  and  subdivision  of  the  university  into  schools 
and  colleges  indicates  the  assumption  of  new  service  for  the 
welfare  of  the  State.  That  the  State  has  appreciated  the 
service  has  been  shown  by  a  university  development  previ- 
ously unknown.  Since  about  1885,  when  the  state  univer- 
sities began  to  turn  their  attention  to  serving  and  advancing 
the  welfare  of  the  State,  university  attendance  and  revenues 
have  advanced  by  leaps  and  bounds.  During  the  same 
period  the  stimulating  competition  of  such  privately-en- 
dowed universities  as  Harvard,  Yale,  Columbia,  Johns  Hop- 
kins, Tulane,  Chicago,  and  Stanford  has  also  made  itself 
felt.  The  growth  in  student  enrollment  may  be  seen  from 
the  figures,  at  different  dates,  for  a  dozen  of  our  larger  state 
universities,  as  given  on  the  following  page. 

Coincident  with  this  rapid  increase  in  students,  faculty- 
schools,  and  courses  has  been  the  greatest  number  and 
amount  of  gifts  of  money  to  our  universities  ever  given  to 


434 


EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 


State  University  of 

1885 

1895 

1905 

1915 

*California 

197 
184 
247 
234 
524 

54 
573 
142 

64 

151 

6 

313 

1781 

299 

814 

1133 

2818 

2171 

614 

1397 

805 

630 

425 

1520 

3294 
483 
3597 
1560 
3832 
3633 
1892 
2728 
1835 
1235 
811 
8010 

6434 

*Georgia 

651 

*IlIinois 

5439 

Iowa 

2680 

Michigan 

5833 

*Minnesota 

4484 

*Missouri  . .           .... 

3140 

*Nebraska 

3832 

*Ohio 

4599 

Texas 

Washington 

*Wisconsin 

2574 
3249 
5128 

*  The  state  agricultural  college  in  these  States  is  combined  with  the  state  university. 

aid  higher  education  in  any  land.  Such  gifts  are  evidence 
of  the  public  appreciation  of  the  valuable  services  to  the 
State  and  Nation  rendered  by  our  colleges  and  universities, 
both  publicly  and  privately  endowed.  The  States,  too, 
have  put  millions  into  the  equipment  and -maintenance  of 
these  higher  institutions,  believing  in  them  as  creators  of 
advanced  public  opinion  and  as  training  schools  for  the 
future  leaders  of  the  State.  In  a  recent  article  in  the  Atlan- 
tic Monthly,  President  Pritchett  wrote: 

The  rise  of  these  great  universities  is  the  most  epoch-making 
feature  of  our  American  civilization,  and  they  are  to  become  more 
and  more  the  leaders,  and  the  makers  of  our  civilization.  They 
are  of  the  people.  When  a  state  university  has  gained  solid  ground, 
it  means  that  the  people  of  a  whole  state  have  turned  their  faces 
toward  the  light;  it  means  that  the  whole  system  of  state  schools 
has  been  welded  into  an  effective  agent  for  civilization.  Those 
who  direct  the  purposes  of  these  great  enterprises  of  democracy 
cannot  be  too  often  reminded  that  the  highest  function  of  a  univer- 
sity is  to  furnish  standards  for  a  democracy. 

University  extension.  By  way  of  rendering  a  still  greater 
service  to  the  people  of  the  State,  our  state  universities  and 
agricultural  colleges  have  recently  made  the  beginnings  of 
what  seems  destined  to  become  a  very  important  new  fea- 


NEW  DIRECTIONS  OF  EFFORT 


435 


ture  of  their  state  service.  By  the  development  of  study 
centers,  lecture  courses,  and  scientific  and  technical  instruc- 
tion at  many  points  within  the  State,  by  traveling  exhibits, 
traveling    libraries,  correspondence    study,  and  by  short 


•  Lecture*  and  Concert! 

9mm 

•  General  Welfare 


Fig.  79.  University  Extension  Work  in  Wisconsin 


courses  provided  at  public-school  centers,  our  universities 
and  agricultural  colleges  have  begun  to  extend  the  advan- 
tages of  higher  education  to  the  people  of  the  State  who  have 
not  been  able  to  go  to  college.  To  the  work  already  be- 
gun we  now  have  the  agricultural  extension  work  provided 


436  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

for  by  the  national  government,  through  the  Smith-Lever 
Bill  (p.  430). 

The  University  of  Wisconsin  has  rendered  notable  service 
in  this  work,  and  may  be  considered  as  a  type  of  the  best 
and  an  example  for  development  elsewhere.  How  it  has 
extended  its  service  to  cover  the  whole  State  is  shown  on  the 
above  map.  At  the  time  this  map  was  prepared,  January, 
1915,  the  University  had  an  active  extension  enrollment  of 
7113  students,  and  during  the  preceding  two  years  1251  lec- 
tures had  been  given,  in  59,5  communities,  to  estimated 
audiences  totaling  370,750  people.  In  addition,  10,945 
"package  libraries"  had  been  loaned  to  different  communi- 
ties in  the  State  during  the  preceding  four  years,  and  the 
university  service  had  also  included  state  and  municipal 
advising  and  health  instruction. 

Such  service  can  be  made  of  the  greatest  value  to  the 
people  of  a  State  in  elevating  standards,  developing  public 
opinion,  diffusing  general  and  special  knowledge,  and  build- 
ing up  a  more  intelligent  democratic  life.  With  democracies 
so  dependent  on  learning  and  leadership  as  we  now  see  them 
to  be,  and  with  the  many  intricate  problems  ahead  of  us  in 
the  new  world  civilization  which  will  follow  the  conclusion 
of  the  World  War,  it  is  almost  certain  that  our  universities 
will  be  called  upon  to  play  a  much  more  important  part  in 
the  education  of  democracy  in  the  future  than  they  have  in 
the  past.  The  university-extension  movement,  as  well  as 
all  the  other  educational  expansions  and  extensions  traced 
in  this  chapter,  are  significant  of  new  social  and  industrial 
conditions  and  new  national  needs.  As  our  social  and  politi- 
cal life  becomes  more  intricate  and  more  complex,  and  our 
world  connections  more  extensive,  education  must  broaden 
its  work  and  enlarge  its  functions  to  prepare  our  people  for 
the  demands  which  lie  ahead. 


NEW  DIRECTIONS  OF  EFFORT  437 

QUESTIONS  FOR  DISCUSSION 

1.  Show  the  connection  between  the  recent  rapid  development  of  the 
high  school  and  the  social  and  industrial  changes  since  1860,  described 
in  Chapter  XI. 

2.  What  is  the  educational  significance  of  the  change  of  the  high  school 
from  a  book-study  high  school  to  a  laboratory  and  shop  high  school? 

3.  What  is  the  social  meaning  of  the  numerous  parallel  high  school 
courses  (p.  409)  and  schools  (p.  410)? 

4.  Contrast  the  American  and  European  high  school  in  purpose. 

5.  Show  the  advantage,  in  a  democracy,  of  a  higher  school  to  develop 
tastes  and  test  capacities  (p.  411). 

6.  Why  should  ours  be  free,  when  theirs  is  a  tuition  school? 

7.  Explain  the  breakdown  of  the  old  apprenticeship  education. 

8.  Explain  our  long  neglect  of  vocational  training. 

9.  Explain  our  continued  neglect  of  higher  commercial  training. 

10.  Explain  our  recent  rapid  acceptance  of  the  agricultural  high  school, 
whereas  the  agricultural  colleges  for  a  long  time  faced  much  opposi- 
tion. 

11.  Explain  the  continued  emphasis  by  the  high  school  of  studies  leading 
to  the  professions  rather  than  the  vocations,  though  so  small  a  per- 
centage of  our  people  are  needed  in  professional  lines.  How  may 
vocational  guidance  help  here? 

12.  Show  the  human  and  monetary  value  of  vocational  guidance. 

13.  Show  the  usefulness  to  the  community  and  the  nation  of  such  evening- 
school  instruction  as  is  outlined  on  pp.  423-24. 

14.  How  do  you  explain  so  large  a  percentage  of  young  people,  14  to  20 
years  of  age,  not  in  any  form  of  school  (Fig.  76)  ? 

15.  How  should  we  deal  with  the  problem  of  adult  illiteracy?  What 
standards  should  we  impose  for  naturalization? 

16.  Show  how  and  why  a  people  with  one  common  language  is  safer 
and  happier  than  one  having  many. 

17.  Explain  how  the  public  school  is  the  natural  center  for  community 
activities  for  advancing  the  public  welfare. 

18.  Explain  why  agricultural  and  home-life  extension  is  important  enough 
to  warrant  national  aid  and  state  supervision. 

19.  Explain  why  university  extension  is  so  desirable  in  a  democracy. 

20.  Explain  the  reasons  for  the  very  rapid  and  extensive  expansion  of  our 
colleges  since  about  1885. 

21.  Show  that  the  statement  by  President  Pritchett  (p.  434)  is  true. 


TOPICS  FOR  INVESTIGATION  AND  REPORT 

1.  The  organization  and  work  of  a  large  technical  high  school  for  girls. 

2.  The  organization  and  work  of  a  large  technical  high  school  for  boys. 


438  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

3.  The  organization  and  work  of  a  county  or  district  high  school  of 
agriculture. 

4.  The  organization  and  work  of  an  evening  vocational  school. 

5.  The  need  for  vocational  education  in  the  United  States. 

6.  The  Smith-Hughes  Bill  plans  and  work  so  far  organized  in  your 
state. 

7.  The  organization  and  work  of  vocational  guidance  in  some  city  school 
system. 

8.  The  evening-school  system  of  some  large  city. 

9.  The  citizenship  and  adult-illiteracy  classes  organized  in  some  city. 

10.  The  community-center  work  in  some  city  rendering  good  service. 

11.  The  work  done  in  agricultural  extension  in  your  state. 

12.  The  university  extension  work  done  by  your  state  university. 

13.  The  library  extension  work  organized  by  your  state  library. 

14.  The  Report  of  the  National  Commission  on  Vocational  Education. 

15.  Trade  and  industrial  education  in  Germany  before  1914. 


SELECTED  REFERENCES 

Betts,  Geo.  H.    Social  Principles  of  Education.    318  pp.    Chas.  Scribner's 
Sons,  New  York,  1912. 

Chapter  VI,  on  "Education  and  Vocational  Modes  of  Experience,"  deals  with  voca- 
tions and  avocations  in  education,  and  forms  simple  collateral  reading  for  this  chapter. 

*Bloomfield,  Meyer.     The  Vocational  Guidance  of  Youth.    124  pp.    Hough- 
ton Mifflin  Co.,  Boston,  1911. 

A  brief  statement  of  the  aims  and  purposes  of  the  movement.  A  more  detailed  state- 
ment may  be  found  in  the  same  author's  Youth,  School,  and  Vocation.  (Houghton 
Mifflin  Company.     1916.) 

Cubberley,  E.  P.,  and  Elliott,  E.  C.     State  and  County  School  Administra- 
tion ;  vol.  n,  Source  Book,  729  pp.    The  Macmillan  Co.,  New  York,  1915. 
Chapter  XV,  on  supplemental  education,  contains  the  following  readings  relating 
to  this  chapter: 

1.  "The  School  House  as  a  Social  Center"  ;  W.  Wilson. 

2.  "  The  "Wisconsin  Free  Library  Commission." 
S.  "  Farmers'  Institutes  ";  Hamilton. 

4.  "  University  Extension  "  ;  Van  Hise. 

*Dewey,  John  and  Evelyn.     Schools  of  To-morrow.     316  pp.     E.  P.  Dut- 
ton  &  Co.,  New  York,  1915. 

A  very  interesting  book,  with  good  illustrations.  Chapter  VIH  describes  a  social 
settlement  school,  and  Chapter  IX  deals  with  the  question  of  the  place  of  vocational 
education  in  the  school  system. 

*Farrington,  F.  E.    Public  Facilities  for  Educating  Aliens.    49  pp.  United 
States  Bureau  of  Education,  Bulletin  No.  18,  Washington,  1916. 
The  problem;  conditions;  statistics. 

♦Fletcher,  H.  J.     "Our  Divided  Country";  in  Atlantic  Monthly,  vol.  117, 
pp.  223-32.    (Feb.,  1916.) 
An  excellent  article  on  the  problem  presented  by  our  un-Americanized  foreign-bom. 


NEW  DIRECTIONS  OF  EFFORT  439 

Forbush,  Wm.  B.  The  Coming  Generation.  402  pp.  D.  Appleton  &  Co., 
New  York,  1912. 

A  readable  account  of  the  forces  working  for  the  betterment  of  American  young  people. 
*Kellor,  Frances  A.     "The  Education  of  the  Immigrant";  in  Educational 
Review,  vol.  48,  pp.  21-36.     (June,  1914.) 

A  very  able  and  interesting  article,  pointing  out  the  need  of  action. 
♦Kingsley,  C.  D.     "The  High-School  Period  as  a  Testing-Time";  in  Pro- 
ceedings of  the  National  Education  Association,  1913,  pp.  49-55. 

A  good  article  on  the  high  school  as  a  testing-time,  and  the  need  for  cosmopolitan 
high  schools. 

Lenz,  Frank  B.  "The  Education  of  the  Immigrant";  in  Educational  Re- 
view, vol.  51,  pp.  469-77.     (May,  1916.) 

The  education  of  immigrant  adults,  by  a  Y.M.C.A.  worker. 

Lewis,  Wm.  D.  Democracy's  High  School.  125  pp.  Houghton  Mifflin  Co., 
Boston,  1914. 

An  interesting  statement  of  the  new  national  problems  the  high  school  must  face,  as 
these  affect  both  the  boy  and  the  girl. 

*Lutz,  R.  R.  Wage-Earning  and  Education.  208  pp.  Cleveland  Educa- 
tion Survey,  1916. 

A  study  of  the  industrial  conditions  and  trade  needs  in  one  large  American  city. 
*Monroe,  Paul.     Cyclopedia  of  Education.    5  vols.     The  Macmillan  Co., 
New  York,  1911-13. 

The  following  articles  are  especially  important: 

1.  "Agricultural  Education";  vol.  I,  pp.  58-68. 

2.  "College,  The  American";  vol.  n,  pp.  57-79. 

3.  "Evening  Schools";  vol.  ii,  pp.  521-27. 

4.  "Household  Arts  in  Education";  vol.  m,  pp.  318-81. 

5.  "Illiteracy";  vol.  m,  pp.  382-85. 

6.  "Immigration  and  Education";  vol.  in,  pp.  390-95. 

7.  "Industrial  Education";  vol.  in,  pp.  425-43. 

8.  "University  Extension";  vol.  v,  pp.  684-89. 

9.  "Vocational  Education";  vol.  v,  pp.  740-42. 

♦National  Society.  The  City  School  as  a  Community  Center.  72  pp. 
Tenth  Year-Book  of  the  National  Society  for  the  Scienti6c  Study  of 
Education,  Part  i,  1911. 

A  series  of  eight  papers  on  different  aspects  of  the  topic,  and  describing  the  work  being 
done. 

♦Perry,  C.  A.  Wider  Use  of  the  School  Plant.  417  pp.  Charities  Pub- 
lication Committee,  New  York,  1911. 

The  beat  single  book  on  the  schoolhouse  as  a  community  center.     Many  excellent 
illustrations. 

♦Perry,  C.  A.  Educational  Extension.  115  pp.  Cleveland  Education 
Survey,  1916. 

Describes  the  needs  and  opportunities  in  a  large  city. 
Perry,  C.  A.     The  Extension  of  Public  Education.     67  pp.     United  States 
Bureau  of  Education,  Bulletin  No.  28,  Washington,  D.C. 

A  study  in  the  wider  use  of  school  buildings.    Many  good  illustrations.     Bulletin  No. 
80,  1917,  carries  statistics  down  to  1915-16. 


440  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

*Ross,  E.  A.    Changing  America.    236  pp.    Century  Co.,  New  York,  1912. 

Chapter  X  is  a  good  general  sketch  on  the  state  universities  of  the  Middle  Westi 
and  their  influence. 

♦Talbot,  W.    Adult  Illiteracy.    90  pp.    United  States  Bureau  of  Educa- 
tion, Bulletin  No.  55,  Washington,  1916. 

The  distribution  of;  illiteracy  of  immigrants;  and  means  for  improving  the  situation. 
Ward,  E.J.   The  Social  Center.  359  pp.   D.Appleton&  Co.,  New  York,  1913. 

A  detailed  description  of  the  community-center  movement  in  the  United  States. 
♦Weeks,  Ruth  M.     The  Peoples  School.    202  pp.    Houghton  Mifflin  Co., 
Boston,  1912. 

A  very  interesting  study  in  vocational  training.    The  problem,  the  vocation,  trade- 
school  training. 

♦Woolman,  Mary.     "The  Manhattan  Trade  School  for  Girls";  in  Edu- 
cational Review,  vol.  30,  pp.  178-88.     (Sept.,  1905.) 

A  very  interesting  account  of  the  beginnings  of  the  school  at  New  York,  and  of  the 
types  of  work  attempted. 

Education  of  the  Immigrant.     52  pp.    United  States  Bureau  of  Education, 
Bulletin  No.  51,  Washington,  D.C.,  1913. 

A  series  of  papers  read  at  a  public  conference  on  the  subject  in  New  York  City, 
May,  1913. 

Illiteracy  in  the  United  States.     38  pp.     United  States  Bureau  of  Educa- 
tion, Bulletin  No.  20,  Washington,  1913. 

The  experiment  for  its  elimination  in  the  "  moonlight  schools "  of  eastern  Kentucky, 
described  and  illustrated. 

Report  of  the  Committee  on  National  Aid  to  Vocational  Education.    House 
Document  No.  1004,  Sixty-third  Congress.    Washington,  1915. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

DESIRABLE  EDUCATIONAL  REORGANIZATIONS 

Our  progress  toward  scientific  organization.  Up  to  the 
days  of  Carter  and  Mann  and  Pierce  in  Massachusetts,  and 
Barnard  in  Connecticut  and  Rhode  Island,  our  school  devel- 
opment had  been  almost  entirely  along  the  lines  of  securing 
legislation,  first  to  permit,  and  later  to  require,  the  estab- 
lishment of  schools;  of  organizing  an  administrative  machin- 
ery to  look  after  the  schools  thus  established;  and  of  creating 
a  public  belief  in  education  for  democratic  ends  and  a  senti- 
ment that  would  support  further  progress.  The  develop- 
ment was  highly  empirical,  each  community  and  State  fol- 
lowing the  lines  of  least  resistance,  without  much  regard  to 
underlying  principles  of  action.  Carter  and  Mann  tried  to 
give  a  better  organization  to  the  schools  of  Massachusetts, 
as  did  Barnard  in  the  two  States  to  the  south,  while  Mann 
tried  by  his  Reports  and  addresses,  and  Barnard  by  his 
Journals  to  introduce  the  better  teaching  methods  which 
American  travelers  abroad  had  described,  and  which  both 
had  seen  in  European  schools.  The  schoolmasters  of  the 
time  largely  resented  change,  however,  and  few  who  taught 
felt  the  need  for  any  training,  so  it  was  not  until  the  move- 
ment looking  toward  a  more  scientific  basis  for  our  school 
practice  had  had  infused  into  it  the  psychology  of  Pestalozzi, 
the  new  ideas  of  Guyot  and  Kriisi,  and  particularly  the  en- 
thusiasm of  Sheldon,  at  Oswego,  that  we  really  set  to  work 
in  earnest  to  psychologize  instruction,  train  would-be  teach- 
ers for  teaching,  and  put  schoolroom  practice  on  something 
approaching  a  scientific  basis.  The  period  from  1860  to 
about  1885  to  1890  was  with  us  the  great  period  of  "fac- 
ulty "-psychology  and  subject  methodology.  This  period 
was  also  marked  by  the  iirm  establishment  of  the  public 


442  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

normal  school,  and  the  beginnings  of  the  professional  study 
of  education  in  our  universities. 

New  directions  during  the  past  two  decades.  Since  then 
we  have  obtained  some  new  ideas  from  abroad  and  have 
worked  out  many  new  conceptions  of  the  educational  pro- 
cess at  home,  and  as  a  result  we  to-day  possess  a  truer  psy- 
chology than  Sheldon  and  his  followers  knew,  while  the 
child-study  movement  has  opened  up  entirely  new  concep- 
tions as  to  the  nature  of  child  development.  A  new  profes- 
sion of  teaching  has  been  created,  and  the  administration  of 
public  education  has  been  organized  into  a  new  professional 
subject  by  our  colleges  and  universities.  Above  all,  our  edu- 
cational thinking  has  been  colored  through  and  through  by 
the  new  social  and  industrial  forces  which  have  become  so 
prominent  during  the  past  quarter-century,  and  as  a  result 
we  to-day  think  in  terms  of  a  new  educational  philosophy, 
and  direct  the  work  of  our  schools  along  new  lines  and 
toward  new  ends. 

Within  the  past  quarter  of  a  century  a  number  of  new 
educational  conceptions  have  come  to  the  front  which  have 
already  deeply  modified  our  educational  thinking  and  prac- 
tices, and  which  promise  to  do  more  than  any  previous  im- 
pulses to  reorganize  our  educational  work  after  a  rational 
plan,  and  to  give  scientific  direction  to  our  educational 
procedure.  These  may  be  classified  under  the  following 
larger  headings : 

1.  The  scientific  study  of  education. 

2.  The  reorganization  of  school  work. 

3.  The  reorganization  and  redirection  of  rural  and  village  edu- 
cation. 

4.  State  educational  reorganization. 

We  will  consider  each  of  these,  briefly,  in  the  above  order. 

I.  The  Scientific  Study  of  Education 
The  overcrowded  curriculum.     From  the  diagram  on 
page  327,  showing  the  evolution  of  our  elementary-school 
curriculum,  it  must  be  evident  that,  if  the  school  subjects  of 


DESIRABLE  EDUCATIONAL  REORGANIZATIONS    443 

1825  or  1850  occupied  all  the  time  of  the  school,  the  many 
new  subjects  added  since  must  seriously  overburden  the 
course  of  study,  even  after  making  all  due  allowance  for 
better  trained  teachers,  longer  school  terms,  and  better  text- 
books and  teaching  appliances.  The  newer  expression  sub- 
jects (p.  370)  also  require  better  teaching  preparation  and 
more  careful  supervision  than  did  the  old  book  subjects. 
To  the  1900  list  should  now  be  added  school  gardening, 
agriculture,  play  as  a  regular  school  subject,  and  a  much 
greater  emphasis  on  the  social  and  industrial  aspects  of  all 
our  school  work. 

The  result  has  been  that  our  elementary  school  courses  of 
study  have  become  badly  crowded  and  that  teachers,  es- 
pecially in  the  upper  grades,  can  no  longer  be  expected  to  be 
qualified  to  teach  satisfactorily  all  the  subjects  of  the  ele- 
mentary school  course.  Nor  would  there  be  time  in  which 
to  teach  all  the  subjects  in  the  old  way,  even  admitting  that 
the  teacher  was  properly  prepared  to  do  so. 

Early  attempts  at  solving  the  problem.  With  the  increase 
of  new  studies,  the  "over-burdening  of  the  curriculum"  had 
become  a  real  live  issue  by  1890,  and  various  attempts  have 
since  been  made  to  solve  the  problem.  In  many  places  the 
introduction  of  the  expression  subjects  was  fought  by  calling 
them  "fads  and  frills,"  and  for  a  time  they  were  kept  out. 
This  line  of  attack  has  now  been  given  up  except  by  a  few 
of  the  older  generation.  It  has  been  seen  that  abuse  and 
ridicule  are  not  arguments,  while  it  has  become  increasingly 
evident  that  these  same  expression  studies  are  not  only  val- 
uable educational  instruments  in  themselves,  but  also  supply 
a  real  need  under  our  changed  conditions  of  living. 

One  of  the  earliest  proposals  for  solving  the  over-bur- 
dened-curriculum  difficulty  was  that  we  concentrate  instruc- 
tion about  a  few  main  subjects,  and  then  correlate  the  other 
school  work  about  these  central  subjects.  Colonel  Francis 
\Y.  Parker  (p.  328)  was  the  leading  advocate  of  this  idea, 
and  his  book  on  the  teaching  of  geography  was  to  show  how 
this  could  be  done  about  geography  as  the  central  core. 


444  EDUCATION  IN  TttE  UNITED  STATES 

The  National  Education  Association's  Committee  of  Fifteen, 
in  its  Report  in  1895,  devoted  half  the  space  to  the  correlation 
of  elementary  school  subjects.  During  the  nineties  the  terms 
concentration  and  correlation  were  terms  to  conjure  with. 

Eliminating  useless  subject-matter.  Another  plan  pro- 
posed, and  one  that  has  proved  very  useful,  has  been  to  cut 
out  parts  of  many  of  the  subjects  taught  and  to  confine  in- 
struction to  what  is  left.  This  has  been  done  extensively. 
For  example,  we  do  not  now  teach  a  third  as  much  arithmetic 
or  grammar  as  we  used  to  do;  the  facts  in  geography  and  the 
dates  and  battles  of  history  are  made  much  less  prominent 
than  they  used  to  be;  and  bone  and  muscle  and  nerve  physi- 
ology and  the  memorization  of  the  Constitution  have  been 
displaced  by  hygiene  and  community  civics.    The  tendency 

In  the  midst  of  a  meadow, 

Well  stored  with  grass, 
I  've  taken  just  two  acres, 

To  tether  my  ass: 
Then  how  long  must  the  cord  be, 

That  feeding  all  round; 
He  may  n't  graze  less  or  more,  than 

Two  acres  of  ground.  Ana.  55h  yards. 

One  of  the  Puzzles  we  no  longer  Teach 

has  been  to  eliminate  the  puzzles  and  little-used  informa- 
tion, and  to  cut  out  all  that  is  not  useful  for  modern  life 
needs.  We  thus  not  only  simplify  the  teaching  of  the  sub- 
ject but  make  room  for  other  subjects  as  well. 

The  Herbartians  (p.  317)  have  been  of  much  help  here,  as 
they  have  urged  the  teaching  of  "type  studies,"  instead  of 
hundreds  of  isolated  facts.  For  example,  in  geography,  a 
study  of  such  types  as  coal-mining,  a  seaport,  a  railroad- 
center,  the  cotton  industry,  sheep  and  wool,  shipping,  trans- 
portation, and  the  interdependence  of  people,  should  take 
the  place  of  learning  great  numbers  of  isolated  facts.  In 
history,  instruction  in  such  type  studies  as  the  internal 
development  of  our  Nation,  the  development  of  the  West, 
the  growth  of  political  parties,  the  rise  of  slavery,  the  evolu- 
tion of  transportation,  the  Monroe  Doctrine,  and  the  domi- 


DESIRABLE  EDUCATIONAL  REORGANIZATIONS    445 

nance  of  cotton  in  our  early  history  and  the  effect  of  the 
invention  of  the  cotton  gin,  should  replace  the  chronological 
study  of  American  annals.  The  same  idea  has  been  applied 
to  science  instruction,  literature,  civics,  hygiene,  and  other 
studies.  The  work  of  Charles,  Frank,  and  Lida  McMurry 
has  been  very  helpful  along  these  lines. 

Still  more  recently  a  committee  of  the  National  Education 
Association  on  "  Economy  of  Time  in  Education  "  has  made 
careful  studies  of  possible  eliminations,  and  the  National 
Society  for  the  Study  of  Education  has  made  also  valu- 
able reports  on  "Minimum  Essentials  in  Elementary  School 
Subjects."  All  of  these  have  been  along  the  line  of  eliminat- 
ing what  is  no  longer  important  to  teach,  and  should  be 
studied  by  those  interested  in  the  problem. 

The  "  project M  idea.  Another  very  important  attempt 
at  the  solution  of  the  problem  has  been  along  the  line  of 
abandoning  largely  the  old  subject-classification,  and  teach- 
ing "projects"  instead.  The  work  of  John  Dewey,  in  the 
experimental  elementary  school  he  conducted  for  some  years 
(1896-1900)  at  Chicago,  was  pioneer  work  along  this  line. 
Making  motor  expression,  social  participation,  and  the  in- 
dustries of  life  the  ideas  around  which  instruction  centered, 
and  making  the  school  reproduce  the  typical  conditions  of 
social  life,  he  constructed  a  course  of  study  based  largely  on 
occupations,  projects,  and  social  demands,  and  continually 
calling  for  expression  rather  than  receptivity.  In  his  school 
the  work  of  the  teacher  was  largely  that  of  planning,  guiding, 
and  interposing  "pedagogical  interference"  to  direct  the 
activities  of  the  children  along  lines  that  would  be  helpful 
and  educationally  profitable.  The  old  formal  school  sub- 
jects, with  set  times  for  classes,  were  replaced  by  studies, 
projects,  and  activities,  into  which  were  introduced  number, 
speech,  reading,  writing,  drawing,  manual  work,  history, 
and  geography,  as  needed  to  understand  or  work  out  the 
project  of  the  day  or  week.  The  school  resembled  a  com- 
bination of  a  kindergarten  and  a  series  of  workshops  more 
than  an  ordinary  school. 


446  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

Recently  a  number  of  attempts  at  reorganizing  instruction 
on  some  form  of  the  project,  or  pupil-activity  basis,  have 
been  tried.  The  school  of  Mrs.  Johnson,  at  Fairhope,  Ala- 
bama, described  by  Dewey  (see  bibliography)  forms  a  good 
modern  example.  There  the  elementary  school  course  of 
study,  instead  of  being  made  up  of  arithmetic,  language, 
geography,  history,  etc.,  is  organized  under  the  headings  of 
physical  exercise,  nature  study,  music,  hand  work,  field 
geography,  descriptive  geography,  reading,  story-telling, 
sense  culture,  number,  dramatization,  and  games.  The 
experimental  elementary  school  at  the  University  of  Mis- 
souri, also  described  by  Dewey,  divided  the  day's  work 
equally  among  four  activities  —  play,  stories,  observation, 
and  hand  work  —  and  built  its  instruction  around  these 
four. 

The  new  scientific  study  of  the  problem.  Within  the  past 
decade  an  entirely  new  means  of  attacking  the  problem  has 
been  developed  through  what  are  known  as  scientific  tests. 
The  movement  is  as  yet  only  in  its  infancy,  but  so  important 
is  it  in  terms  of  the  future  that  it  bids  fair  to  change  the 
whole  character  of  the  supervision  of  the  instruction  in  our 
schools.  The  scientific  purpose  of  the  new  movement  has 
been  to  try  to  evolve,  by  the  careful  measurement  of  schools 
and  children,  a  series  of  standards  of  measurement  (measur- 
ing sticks  for  school  work)  and  units  of  accomplishment 
(time  and  effort  evaluations  of  instruction)  which  can  be 
applied  to  schools  anywhere  to  determine,  scientifically, 
the  economy  or  wastefulness  and  the  efficiency  or  inefficiency 
of  the  work  being  done.  On  the  basis  of  such  information 
the  effectiveness  of  all  kinds  of  instruction  can  be  measured, 
and  schools  in  different  places  can  be  accurately  compared. 
The  leader  in  this  movement  has  been  Professor  Edward  L. 
Thorndike,  of  Teachers  College,  Columbia  University. 

These  tests  and  measures  we  now  know  as  Standard 
Scales.  So  forcibly  has  this  new  idea  of  measurement  ap- 
pealed to  the  younger  school  men  that  to-day  probably  hun- 
dreds of  men  and  women  are  busy  testing  and  perfecting 


DESIRABLE  EDUCATIONAL  REORGANIZATIONS    447 

scales  for  all  kinds  of  measurements,  new  or  improved  scales 
are  being  proposed  continually  in  the  educational  magazines, 
and  a  few  very  helpful  books  for  the  use  of  teachers  have 
already  been  written  on  the  subject.  So  far  we  have 
evolved  fairly  satisfactory  scales  for  the  measurement  of: 

Arithmetical  ability.  English  composition. 

Reasoning  skill.  Use  of  English. 

Handwriting.  Silent  reading. 

Spelling.  Oral  reading. 

Drawing.  Geography. 

For  each  of  these  subjects  certain  "standard  scores,"  that  is 
the  amount  of  work  with  the  tests  which  should  be  done  by 
average  pupils,  of  any  age  or  grade,  have  been  worked  out. 

A  new  ability  to  diagnose.  With  these  standard  tests  and 
scores  we  can  now  measure  an  unknown  class  and  say,  rather 
definitely,  that,  for  example,  the  class  not  only  spells  poorly 
but  is  12  per  cent  below  standard;  that  the  class  is  8  per  cent 
ahead  of  its  place  in  speed  of  writing,  but  15  per  cent  below 
on  quality;  that  the  children  are  from  6  to  16  per  cent  above 
grade  in  the  four  simple  arithmetical  processes,  but  21  per 
cent  below  in  ability  to  reason  on  simple  arithmetical  prob- 
lems; that  they  can  read  orally  16  per  cent  better  than  the 
average  class,  but  are  sadly  deficient  in  thought-getting 
ability  from  silent  reading;  and  that,  in  composition,  they 
are  10  per  cent  below  standard  and  can  write  much  better 
than  they  can  think.  Still  more,  we  can  determine  just 
where  the  difficulty  lies,  not  only  with  schools  or  classes,  but 
for  individual  pupils  in  classes  as  well,  as  may  be  seen  from 
the  pupil  score  card  in  Arithmetic,  given  on  page  448. 

Within  the  past  five  years  these  tests  have  been  used  in 
School  Surveys  in  a  number  of  American  cities,  and  those 
responsible  for  the  conduct  of  the  schools  were  told,  as  a 
result  of  the  tests,  where  their  schools  stood  in  the  matter  of 
instruction.  Butte  (1914),  Salt  Lake  City  (1915),  Cleve- 
land (1916),  and  Grand  Rapids  (1917)  form  good  examples 
of  the  use  of  these  tests  to  diagnose  conditions.  In  Butte, 
for  example,  the  schools  were  found  ahead  of  where  they 


448 


EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 


should  have  been  in  all  formal  drill  subjects,  and  below 
where  they  should  have  been  in  all  subjects  involving  reason- 
ing or  expression.  In  Salt  Lake  City,  the  schools  were  found 
to  rank  high  and  above  standard  in  all  subjects  in  which 


1 1 A .  «4U4#»V  »f  Himlmilm  tun  thm  MihJmI  (Mitty  »f  <••  fuf 

COURTIS  STANDARD  TESTS 


--  A 


-B 


Grade* 
Taut 

..Addition 

2.  Subtraction 

3.  Muitfptieat^n 

4.  Division 

5.  Copjlm  Flfyrw 

6.  Spied  RuMlllKg, 


I — I — T^T'T 

o        10 '        ao  I        >*jo       •      '*o        J    i 


8.    Reasoning 


I     ly< 


f»t-C- — ■  ?  !  ■   :.}*^r   t.,..' — f ,  v* — j — , — i — , — ? 


Fig.  80.  A  Courtis  Score  Card  in  Arithmetic 

From  Cubberley's  Public  School  Administration,  p.  334. 

In  the  figure  above,  curves  A  and  B  are  of  two  individuals  in  the  same  class.  From  an  In- 
diana school.  Note  that  A  is  practically  normal  except  in  the  last  test  (shown  by  the  fact  that 
the  curve  is  almost  a  straight  line  and  lies  almost  wholly  within  the  boundaries  of  the  fourth 
grade),  while  B  is  below  grade  in  every  test  but  one  and  is  particularly  weak  on  reasoning. 

Curves  C  and  D  are  two  measurements  of  the  same  child,  one  in  September  and  the  other 
in  June.  From  a  Michigan  school.  Note  the  correction  of  many  defects  and  the  balance  of  the 
final  score. 

tests  were  given  —  spelling,  composition,  writing,  reading, 
and  arithmetic  —  but  that  the  range  of  pupil  abilities  in 
classes  and  schools  was  too  large,  and  that  too  much  time 
was  being  given  to  these  subjects  at  the  expense  of  other 
studies.  The  Cleveland  measurements  showed  much  wrong 
emphasis  in  instruction,  far  too  wide  variations  between 
schools  and  classes,  and  need  of  an  entirely  new  type  of 
school  supervision  to  secure  better  results  for  the  money 
expended,    The  schools  of  Grand  Rapids,  as  a  whole,  were 


DESIRABLE  EDUCATIONAL  REORGANIZATIONS    449 

found  near  to  where  they  should  be,  the  attention  needed 
being  to  individual  schools,  rather  than  to  the  school  system 
as  a  whole. 

Standard  tests  as  a  basis  for  course  of  study  eliminations. 
The  studies  made  with  the  use  of  the  tests,  too,  have  shown 
that  in  some  school  subjects  we  have  been  teaching  far  too 
much  in  quantity,  giving  too  much  school  time  to  instruc- 
tion in  them,  or  over-emphasizing  certain  phases  of  the 
teaching  of  a  subject  to  the  neglect  of  other  important 
phases.  The  children  of  Butte,  for  example,  were  learning 
to  spell  over  10,000  words,  while  all  careful  studies  made  of 
vocabularies  show  that  1000  words  will  cover  the  most 
commonly  used  and  most  commonly  misspelled  words,  and 
that  about  3500  words  are  all  that  need  be  taught.  In  Salt 
Lake  City  children  were  being  given  25  per  cent  more  school 
time  for  writing  than  was  necessary,  and  were  being  drilled 
to  a  degree  of  perfection  in  penmanship  which  was  wasteful 
of  time  and  energy.  In  Cleveland  too  much  time  was  being 
given  to  oral  reading,  without  results  to  warrant  the  expen- 
diture. In  Grand  Rapids  the  composition  tests  showed  the 
pupils  to  be  over-drilled  in  the  mechanics  of  composition, 
but  poor  in  ability  to  think.  On  the  basis  of  such  studies, 
combined  with  studies  as  to  the  social  usefulness  of  the 
various  parts  of  the  different  school  subjects,  and  studies  as 
to  the  pedagogy  of  instruction,  we  have  already  been  able 
to  do  something  in  the  revision  of  our  elementary  school 
curriculum  that  has  lightened  the  load  and  materially  im- 
proved the  instruction  of  what  remains. 

By  creating  such  measuring  sticks  for  school  work,  both 
supervisors  and  teachers  are  given  a  far  more  definite  aim 
tli  an  ever  before  for  the  work  they  are  to  do.  Waste  of 
energy  through  over-  or  under-emphasis  of  certain  phases  of 
the  teaching  process  may  be  prevented.  Principals  and 
teachers  can  tell,  from  a  glance  at  the  results  of  standard 
tests,  charted  on  a  standard  score  card,  whether  or  not  any 
room  or  group  of  pupils  is  up  to  standard;  what  are  the 
weak  points;  whether  a  room  or  a  school  is  making  progress; 


450         EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

and  in  what  rooms  the  load  and  the  teacher  are  not  properly 
adjusted.  Teachers,  in  particular,  can  know  definitely  what 
results  are  expected  of  them,  and  at  all  times  whether  or  not 
they  are  accomplishing  them.  Even  pupils  can,  in  some 
subjects,  score  their  own  records  on  standard  score  cards, 
calculate  their  growth  in  accuracy  and  speed,  and  compare 
their  writing  with  the  standardized  writing  of  a  writing 
scale  hung  in  the  room. 

The  important  underlying  purpose  in  the  creation  of  all 
such  standards  for  measuring  school  work  and  for  comparing 
the  accomplishments  of  pupils,  classes,  schools,  or  school 
systems,  is  to  give  to  supervisors  and  teachers  means  by 
which  they  may,  quite  definitely,  measure  the  effectiveness 
of  the  work  they  do,  and  learn  from  the  charted  results 
where  to  shift  the  emphasis  and  how  to  improve  the  manu- 
facturing process.  Teaching  without  a  measuring  stick  of 
standardized  length,  and  without  definite  standards  (stand- 
ard scores,  or  norms)  for  the  work  of  the  different  grades,  is 
much  like  the  old  time  luck-and-chance  farming,  and  there 
is  no  reason  to  think  that  the  introduction  of  well-tested 
standards  for  accomplishment  in  school  work  will  not  do  for 
education  what  has  been  done  for  agriculture  as  a  result  of 
the  application  of  scientific  knowledge  and  methods.  This 
recent  development  of  tests  and  measures  for  instruction  is 
a  movement  looking  toward  scientific  accuracy  in  teaching, 
and  is  comparable  in  importance  to  the  introduction  of  the 
idea,  in  the  sixties,  of  an  orderly  psychological  development 
in  children,  to  which  a  methodology  of  instruction  should  be 
applied. 

The  measurement  of  intelligence.  Within  the  past  ten 
years  we  have  also  worked  out  and  perfected  another  new 
and  very  important  means  whereby  it  is  now  possible  to 
measure  and  classify  children  on  the  basis  of  their  intel- 
lectual capacities.  From  the  use  so  far  made  of  this  new 
measuring  stick  in  retesting  children  once  measured,  at  a 
later  age,  it  is  now  confidently  asserted  that  the  degree  of 
intelligence  which  a  child  has  at  six  or  eight  or  ten  years  of 


DESIRABLE  EDUCATIONAL  REORGANIZATIONS    451 

age  is  the  degree  of  intelligence  he  will  retain  through  life. 
That  is,  a  child  of  80  per  cent  of  average  intelligence  at  six 
years  of  age  will  remain  close  to  80  per  cent  the  remainder  of 
his  life,  and  a  child  of  120  per  cent  will  remain  close  to  120 
per  cent.  Instead  of  being  born  free  and  equal,  we  are  born 
free  and  unequal,  and  unequal  we  shall  ever  remain.  The 
school,  we  now  see,  cannot  make  intelligence;  it  can  only 
train  and  develop  and  make  useful  the  intelligence  which  the 
child  brings  with  him  to  school.  This  is  a  matter  of  his 
racial  and  family  inheritance,  and  nothing  within  the  gift  of 
the  schools  or  our  democratic  form  of  government.  From 
the  use  of  this  new  measuring  stick,  too,  we  have  found  that 
there  can  be  no  arbitrary  classification  of  children  into  such 
groups  as  dull,  average,  and  bright.  Instead,  children 
shade  off  from  one  classification  into  another,  all  the  way 
from  idiocy  at  one  end  of  the  scale  to  superior  genius  at  the 
other.  As  might  be  expected,  most  children  fall  into  the 
relatively  normal  class,  the  curve  shading  off  somewhat 
evenly  in  either  direction. 

By  means  of  a  series  of  carefully  selected  and  standardized 
mental  tests,  first  worked  out  by  Binet  and  Simon  in  France 
(1911),  and  revised  and  extended  and  adapted  to  use  with 
American  children  by  Terman  (1916),  we  are  now  able  to 
measure  and  give  each  child  an  intelligence  rating  (intelli- 


M-7» 


96-105 
83.9* 


100-113 
23.1  < 


110-123 
9.0  < 


126-136        136 -US 

C3<  .55* 


J3*  Ut  8jS«  KU« 

Fio.  81.  The  Distribution  of  Intelligence  among  Children 

on  the  measurement  of  005  unaclected  school  children,  5  to  14  years  of  age.   (From 
Terman'*  The  Meaturemenl  qf  Intelligence,  p  66.) 


452  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

gence  quotient;  I.  Q.).  From  this  rating  (I.  Q.)  we  know 
somewhat  accurately  the  possibilities  of  the  child  in  school 
work.  Terman's  studies  showed  that  the  distribution  of 
the  intelligence  of  children,  between  5  and  14  years  of  age,  is 
approximately  as  shown  in  the  last  diagram,  the  extremes 
in  intelligence  in  the  children  he  measured  ranging  from  56 
to  145.  On  the  basis  of  his  work  he  suggested  the  following 
classification  of  children  as  to  I.  Q.  and  mental  capacity. 

I.  Q.  Classification 

Above  140 Near  genius  or  genius. 

120-140 Very  superior  intelligence. 

110-120 Superior  intelligence. 

go-i  io  Normal,  or  average  intelligence. 

80-90 Dullness. 

70-80 Border-line  deficiency,  sometimes  classifiable  as 

dullness,  often  as  feeble-mindedness. 
Below  70 Definite  feeble-mindedness. 

Educational  significance  of  intelligence  measurements. 
The  educational  significance  of  this  new  means  of  measuring 
intelligence  is  very  large.  Questions  relating  to  proper 
classification  in  school,  grading,  promotion,  choice  of  studies, 
schoolroom  procedure,  vocational  guidance,  and  the  proper 
handling  of  subnormal  children  on  the  one  hand  and  gifted 
children  on  the  other,  all  acquire  new  meaning  when 
viewed  in  the  light  of  intelligence  measurement.  To  quote 
Terman : 

Wherever  intelligence  tests  have  been  made  in  any  considerable 
number  in  the  schools  it  has  been  shown  that  not  far  from  2  per 
cent  of  the  children  enrolled  have  a  grade  of  intelligence  which, 
however  long  they  live,  will  never  develop  beyond  the  level  which 
is  normal  to  the  average  child  of  11  or  12  years.  They  may  be 
able  to  drag  along  to  the  4th,  5th,  or  6th  grades,  but  even  by  the 
age  of  16  or  18  years  they  are  never  able  to  cope  successfully  with 
the  more  abstract  and  difficult  parts  of  the  common-school  course 
of  study.  They  may  master  a  certain  amount  of  rote  learning, 
such  as  that  involved  in  reading  and  in  the  manipulation  of  num- 
ber combinations,  but  they  cannot  be  taught  to  meet  new  condi- 


DESIRABLE  EDUCATIONAL  REORGANIZATIONS    453 

tions  effectively,  or  to  think,  reason,  and  judge  as  normal  persons 
do. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  number  of  children  with  very  superior 
ability  is  approximately  as  great  as  the  number  of  feeble-minded. 
The  future  well-being  of  this  country  hinges,  in  no  small  degree, 
upon  the  right  education  of  these  superior  children.  Psychological 
tests  show  that  children  of  superior  ability  usually  fail  to  reap  any 
advantage  whatever,  in  terms  of  promotion,  from  their  superior 
intelligence.  The  large  majority  of  superior  children  tested  are 
found  located  below  the  school  grade  warranted  by  their  intelli- 
gence level. 

When  these  new  tests  of  intelligence  have  been  applied  to 
the  children  who  experience  difficulty  in  getting  along  in  the 
regular  school  a  flood  of  light  has  been  thrown  on  the  prob- 
lem. Low  mentality,  retardation  in  school,  truancy,  im- 
morality, and  criminal  tendencies  are  all  tied  up  closely 
together.  It  may  now  be  confidently  asserted,  on  the  basis 
of  tests  so  far  made,  that  approximately  2  per  cent  of  the 
children  in  our  schools  are  of  such  low  mentality  that  they 
probably  never  will  attain  to  a  grade  of  intelligence  above 
that  normal  for  a  twelve-year-old  child;  that  among  the 
children  in  our  reform  (industrial)  schools  20  to  30  per  cent 
are  feeble-minded,  and  another  20  to  25  per  cent  of  low- 
grade  mentality;  that  approximately  25  to  30  per  cent  of  our 
criminals  and  30  to  40  per  cent  of  our  prostitutes  are  feeble- 
minded. Of  the  low-grade-in-intelligence  members  of  these 
classes,  very  few  have  ever  progressed  beyond  the  fifth 
grade  in  school.  Lacking  in  the  ability  to  foresee  and  weigh 
consequences,  and  unable  to  exercise  self-restraint,  every 
low-grade  or  feeble-minded  girl  is  a  potential  prostitute,  and 
every  boy  of  the  type  a  potential  criminal. 

Viewed  in  the  light  of  this  new  knowledge,  the  importance 
of  mental  measurements  to  grade  and  classify  intelligence, 
of  the  standard  tests  to  determine  lines  of  progress,  and  of 
all  the  special  types  of  schools  for  delinquents  and  defectives 
mentioned  in  Chapter  XII  —  differentiated  course  of  study, 
over-age  classes,  non-English-speaking  classes,  supplemen- 


454  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

tal  coaching  classes,  industrial  classes,  home  schools,  disci- 
plinary classes,  parental  schools,  state  industrial  schools  — 
acquire  a  new  educational  significance  in  the  light  of  our 
recent  discoveries  as  to  the  measurement  and  grading  of 
intelligence.  The  recent  development  of  standard  scales 
and  a  scale  for  the  grading  of  intelligence  mark  distinct  for- 
ward steps  in  the  improvement  of  our  educational  proce- 
dure. Just  now  they  are  both  new,  but  as  they  are  learned 
by  teachers  and  principals,  and  their  use  made  common, 
schoolroom  methods  will  become  more  intelligent,  children 
will  be  classified  and  taught  better,  and  the  needs  of  the 
slow  on  the  one  hand  and  the  gifted  on  the  other  will  be 
better  cared  for  by  our  schools.  Both  represent  important 
new  steps  forward  in  the  process  of  making  education  a  more 
scientific  procedure. 

II.  The  Reorganization  of  School  Work 

The  8-4  school  as  evolved  by  1890.  Our  common-school 
system  was  an  outgrowth  of  a  great  democratic  movement, 
beginning  in  the  early  part  of  the  nineteenth  century,  which 
created  common  tax-supported  schools  for  democracy's 
ends.  The  college,  on  the  other  hand,  has  its  roots  back  in 
the  Middle  Ages,  and  originally  was  founded  to  pass  on  to  a 
small  privileged  class  the  inherited  learning  of  the  ages.  In 
between  the  two  there  arose  with  us  the  academy,  and  this 
later  was  superseded  by  the  public  tax-supported  high 
school.  This,  when  created,  unlike  the  common  practice 
with  higher  schools  in  Europe  (see  Fig.  51,  p.  268)  was 
superimposed  by  democracy  on  the  common  school  which 
had  previously  grown  up.  As  was  shown  in  the  tabulation 
for  twenty-five  cities  given  on  page  228,  the  parts  of  our 
school  system  at  first  possessed  no  fixed  limits  or  length  of 
course.  Sometimes  we  found  a  three-year  high  school  super- 
imposed on  anywhere  from  a  six-  to  a  nine-year  elementary- 
school  course  of  study,  and  sometimes  a  four-year  school 
superimposed  on  schools  of  varying  length  below.  In  time 
the  nine-year  elementary  school  became  common  in  the  New 


Copyright,  llmwii  Bros.,  New  York 


JOHK   DBWEX 


Copyright,  Notman,  Bostou 


CHARLES  WILLIAM  ELIOT 

President  Emeritus  of 
Harvard  University 


DESIRABLE  EDUCATIONAL  REORGANIZATIONS    455 

England  States,  the  seven-year  elementary  school  in  the 
Southern  States,  and  the  eight-year  elementary  schools 
elsewhere,  with  a  three-year  and  later  a  four-year  high- 
school  course  superimposed  on  top  of  each. 

By  1890  the  8-4  plan  of  organization,  shown  in  the  chart 
on  page  99,  had  become  common  everywhere,  except  in 
the  South,  the  nine-year  elementary  school  in  New  England 
being  due  to  the  admission  of  children  to  the  lowest  grade  at 
five,  instead  of  six.  The  high  school  was  thus  dovetailed 
in  between  the  common  school  on  the  one  side  and  the  col- 
lege on  the  other,  as  is  shown  in  the  left-hand  plan  given  in 
Figure  82,  page  460.  A  perfect  educational  ladder  was 
thus  provided  by  democracy,  leading  from  the  kindergarten 
at  the  bottom  to  the  graduate  or  professional  schools  at  the 
top.  This  all  came  about  so  naturally  as  the  result  of  a  slow 
native  evolution,  and  seemed  to  fit  so  well  the  educational 
needs  of  the  time,  that  no  one  for  a  time  questioned  the 
arrangement. 

First  questioning  of  the  arrangement.  In  1888  President 
Charles  W.  Eliot,  of  Harvard  University,  read  a  paper  before 
the  Department  of  Superintendence  of  the  National  Educa- 
tion Association  on  "  Can  School  Programs  be  Shortened 
and  Enriched?'*  and  in  1892  followed  this  by  another  before 
the  National  Education  Association  on  "Shortening  and 
Enriching  the  Grammar  School  Course."  These  two  papers 
started  a  discussion  of  a  new  educational  problem,  —  that  of 
the  respective  purposes  and  places  in  our  educational  sys- 
tem of  the  common  elementary  school,  the  high  school,  and 
the  college.  The  discussion  centered  about  the  questions 
of  shortening  the  instruction  in  the  old  drill  subjects,  the 
addition  of  new  and  more  advanced  studies  in  the  upper 
grades  of  the  elementary  school,  the  specialization  of  the 
work  of  teachers  there  by  the  introduction  of  a  departmental 
type  of  teaching  for  the  sixth,  seventh,  and  eighth  school 
grades,  and  the  shortening  of  the  whole  course  of  instruction 
so  that  boys  might  begin  their  professional  study  and  life- 
work  at  an  earlier  age.     These  topics  were  much  discussed 


4>56  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

for  a  decade  and  a  half,  and  much  careful  thinking  was  given 
to  them. 

As  a  result,  many  schools,  between  about  1890  and  1905, 
reorganized  the  instruction  in  the  upper  grades  by  changing 
from  the  grade-teacher  plan  to  a  departmental  type  of  in- 
struction. A  few  new  subjects,  such  as  elementary  algebra 
and  geometry,  elementary  science,  and  Latin  or  a  modern 
language  were  introduced,  here  and  there,  as  new  studies  for 
selected  classes  in  the  upper  grades,  but  usually  there  was 
no  differentiation  in  courses,  and  no  changes  in  the  relation 
of  the  elementary  school  to  the  high  school.  The  public 
school  system  still  remained  an  8-4  school  system,  with  at 
best  the  five  lower  grades  taught  by  the  grade  plan  and  the 
three  upper  by  the  departmental  plan.  The  chief  result  of 
the  discussion,  though  by  no  means  a  small  one  in  itself,  was 
to  specialize  more  the  work  of  the  teachers  in  the  upper  ele- 
mentary school  grades,  with  a  resulting  improvement  in  the 
quality  of  the  instruction. 

One  other  result  of  importance  was  that  the  discussion 
aroused  led  to  the  appointment  of  three  committees  by 
the  National  Education  Association,  the  reports  of  which 
were  widely  read  and  materially  influenced  subsequent 
thinking.     These  were : 

Appointed  Committee  Reported 

1891     Committee  of  Ten  on  Secondary  School  Studies  1893 

1893    Committee  of  Fifteen  on  Elementary  Education  1895 

1895    Committee  on  College  Entrance  Requirements  1899 

A  new  direction  given  the  discussion.  In  1901  Professor 
John  Dewey,  and  in  1902  President  Harper,  at  the  meetings 
of  conferences  of  academies  and  high  schools  at  the  Univer- 
sity of  Chicago,  gave  the  discussion  a  new  direction  by 
questioning  the  organization  of  public  education  as  then 
developed.  President  Harper  proposed  to  condense  and 
shorten  the  elementary  school  to  six  years,  and  then  extend 
the  high  school  to  an  equal  length  of  time.  For  such  a 
change  he  advanced  many  educational  arguments.  This 
proposal,  too,  brought  forth  much  educational  discussion. 


DESIRABLE  EDUCATIONAL  REORGANIZATIONS    457 

A  number  of  committees  to  consider  it  were  appointed  by 
different  educational  associations,  a  number  of  reports  were 
prepared  and  printed,  and  many  articles  on  the  question 
appeared  in  the  educational  magazines.  The  fact  that,  in 
1900,  two  of  the  most  progressive  nations  in  the  world, 
France  and  Japan,  had  revised  their  national  systems  of 
education  and  virtually  limited  elementary  education  to 
six  years,  was  quoted;  and  the  educational  exhibits  at  the 
St.  Louis  Exposition,  in  1904,  made  it  conspicuously  evident 
that  the  United  States  was  almost  the  only  important  nation 
to  prolong  elementary  education  to  eight  or  nine  years.  In 
the  Philippines,  too,  we  had  just  organized  a  school  system 
built  on  a  four-year  elementary  school. 

General  result  of  the  discussion.  The  result  of  a  decade 
of  discussion  which  followed  this  new  proposal  was  a  rather 
general  acceptance,  at  least  by  those  who  had  participated 
actively  in  it,  of  the  idea  of  shortening  the  drill  and  funda- 
mental-knowledge instruction  of  the  elementary  school  to 
six  years,  and  the  organization  of  all  the  instruction  of 
the  following  eight  years  —  the  seventh  and  eighth  grades, 
the  four  years  of  the  high  school  period,  and  the  first  two 
years  of  the  college  course  —  into  some  organized  form  of 
secondary  education,  as  is  done  in  most  European  countries. 
It  gradually  came  to  be  felt  that  such  an  arrangement  would 
not  only  provide  for  better  instruction,  but  that  it  would 
be  based  on  better  psychological  grounds  than  the  8-4  plan. 
Under  the  plans  proposed  the  first  two  years  of  the  college 
course  would  become  more  closely  connected  with  the  sec- 
ondary school  —  perhaps  an  integral  part  of  it  —  and  the 
university  of  the  future  would  in  consequence  become  a  group 
of  professional  schools,  beginning  at  the  present  junior  year. 
The  general  result  would  be  the  enrichment  of  instruction, 
the  provision  of  larger  educational  opportunities  at  home 
for  the  more  ambitious  pupils,  and  the  capable  student 
would  be  able  to  finish  college  by  the  time  he  was  twenty, 
get  his  professional  preparation  made  by  twenty-three  or 
twenty-four,  and  thus  enter  upon  his  professional  life  at 


458  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

least  two  years  earlier  than  was  then  the  case.  The  follow- 
ing statement,  made  by  Professor  Alexis  F.  Lange,  in  1909, 
is  expressive  of  the  general  result  arrived  at  as  the  outcome 
of  the  discussion  carried  on  between  1902  and  1909.  He 
said: 

The  question  is  no  longer,  Shall  the  high  school  live  unto  itself; 
but,  How  shall  it  live  with  its  neighbors  on  either  side?  .  .  .  Edu- 
cation must  become  more  continuous,  not  mechanically,  but 
organically.  The  sixteen  or  more  grades  of  our  school  system 
must  come  to  stand  approximately  for  as  many  adaptations  to 
unbroken  growth.  The  educational  edifice  erected  by  the  nine- 
teenth century  still  resembles  too  closely  an  irregular  pyramid  of 
three  boxes,  the  tops  and  bottoms  of  which  are  perforated  in  order 
that  the  more  acrobatic  pupils  may  vault  from  the  known  to  the 
unknown,  and  their  teachers  above  and  below  may  exchange  male- 
dictions. The  twentieth  century  cannot  accept  this  arrangement 
as  final.  The  structure,  as  seen  from  the  outside,  may  well  remain 
intact;  but  the  provisional  tops  and  bottoms  inside  must  be  refitted, 
if  not  removed.  Now,  one  essential  in  preparing  for  this  task  is  to 
realize  that  adolescence  begins  at  least  two  years  earlier  and  ends 
about  two  years  later  than  the  inherited  accidental  high-school 
period.  Divested  of  artificial  meanings,  secondary  education  is 
to  cover  not  less  than  eight  grades,  instead  of  four. 


Up  to  1911  or  1912  the  question  of  educational  reorganiza- 
tion remained  largely  an  academic  question,  though  being 
increasingly  subjected  to  critical  analysis  by  practical  school 
men  to  see  if  the  reorganizations  proposed  could  be  carried 
out  in  practice.  Along  with  this  study  of  the  problem  of 
educational  reorganization  a  number  of  other  practical 
school  problems,  such  as  the  acceleration  of  capable  chil- 
dren, retardation  and  its  causes,  flexible  grading,  promo- 
tional schemes,  courses  of  study  eliminations,  and  parallel 
and  differentiated  courses  of  study  to  meet  varying  social 
and  individual  needs,  now  began  to  receive  a  hitherto  un- 
known attention.  Within  the  past  half-dozen  years  not 
only  these  problems,  but  the  earlier  question  of  educational 
reorganization  as  well,  have  been  put  in  a  new  light  through 
the  use  of  the  new  standard  tests  and  the  new  ability  to 


DESIRABLE  EDUCATIONAL  REORGANIZATIONS    459 

measure  and  grade  intelligence.  The  desirability  of  some 
form  of  educational  reorganization  now  stands  forth  clearer 
than  ever  before. 

The  6-3-3  and  6-3-5  plans  evolved.  The  result  of  this 
twenty-five  years  of  discussion,  the  careful  thought  given  to 
the  practical  administrative  problems  just  mentioned  above, 
the  new  light  on  our  educational  work  obtained  through  the 
use  of  new  measuring  tests,  and  a  growing  consciousness 
that  the  problem  of  educational  reorganization  was  a  real 
one,  with  educational,  social,  and  psychological  bearings  of 
far-reaching  importance,  have  all  combined  recently  to 
change  the  problem  from  an  academic  into  a  very  practical 
issue.  From  the  educational  point  of  view  the  problem  has 
become  —  Can  any  reorganization  better  fit  the  school  to 
attract  and  retain  a  larger  percentage  of  the  older  boys  and 
girls  who  now  drop  out,  and  can  a  more  flexible  organization 
be  devised  to  meet  the  needs  alike  of  the  slow,  the  gifted, 
and  the  peculiar?  From  a  social  point  of  view  the  problem 
has  become  —  Can  the  instruction,  by  any  reorganization, 
be  adapted  better  to  the  needs  of  the  different  social  classes, 
and  thus  meet  better  the  social  and  industrial  demands  of 
our  modern  world?  From  the  psychological  point  of  view 
the  problem  has  become  —  Can  we  adjust  our  school  work 
better  to  the  natural  growth  and  mental-development 
periods  of  child  life?  From  the  democratic  point  of  view 
the  problem  remains  almost  as  stated  by  President  Eliot,  — 
Can  we  by  any  rearrangement  meet  better  the  needs  of  the 
gifted  children,  and  thus  permit  them  to  progress  more 
rapidly  through  school? 

After  the  problem  of  reorganization  had  shaped  itself  in 
these  ways,  as  a  result  of  the  long  discussion,  a  number  of 
important  experiments  in  educational  reorganization  began. 
While  these  have  varied  somewhat,  in  different  parts  of  the 
United  States,  the  most  common  plan  so  far  worked  out, 
and  one  which  contains  the  essential  features  of  practically 
all  the  variations,  is  what  has  become  known  as  the  6-3-3 
plan,  and  is  as  shown  by  the  right-hand  diagram  given  in 


5- 

■s-g 


1900 


Graduate 
Work 

Professional 
Schools 


Liberal  Arts 

and 

Technical 

Courses 

and 

Departments 


o  J  5 

i 1  e 


_Eight_ 
-  Grade  -• 
School 


Kindergarten 


Years  of  Age 
25 


School  Grade 


19th 


18th 


17th 


16th 


15th 


14th 


13th 


12th 


11th 


10th 


9th 


8th 


7th 


6th 


5th 


4th 


3rd 


2nd 


1st 


Kn. 


1925  (?) 


si 


u    CO 

U  c 


v  *3 
Wo 


Civic,  Scientific 

and 

Liberal  Arts 

Studies 


~1 — n-TT" 
-h  '  £5  i. Si  •§ 


& 


]6\n 


Some 


Differentiations 


in  Courses 

!       I       ! 


Six 


Grades 


Mastery  of 
Fundamental 


Kindergarten 


Common  Plan 
still  in  general  use 


Plan  beginning 
to  be  used 


The  8-4  plan  The  6-3-3  (or  5)  plan 

Fig.  82.  The  Reorganization  op  American  Education 


DESIRABLE  EDUCATIONAL  REORGANIZATIONS    461 

Figure  82.  The  essential  features  of  the  plan  are  (1)  the 
reorganization  of  the  first  six  years  into  a  school  for  liter- 
acy and  citizenship,  and  for  attaining  the  use  of  the  funda- 
mental tools  of  learning;  (2)  the  organization  of  the  last  two 
years  of  the  elementary  school  and  the  first  year  of  the  high 
school  into  a  new  school,  known  as  the  intermediate  school, 
or  the  junior  high  school,  to  be  provided  for  in  separate 
buildings,  taught  by  a  departmental  plan  of  instruction,  and 
to  offer  more  advanced  studies  than  the  usual  grade-school 
does,  with  some  variations  in  courses  to  meet  different  pupil 
needs;  (3)  the  formal  high  school  to  constitute  the  three 
upper  years;  and  (4)  the  first  two  years  of  college  work  to  be 
closely  related,  and  in  a  sense  complementary,  to  the  work 
of  the  high  school.  Where  possible  the  first  two  years  of 
college  work  may  be  added  to  the  high  school,  or  closely 
connected  with  it  by  a  separate  organization  known  as  a 
junior  college.  When  so  connected,  as  is  done  in  a  number 
of  California  cities,  the  plan  becomes  a  6-3-5  plan.  The 
university  then  should  consist  of  a  large  number  of  profes- 
sional schools,  beginning  with  the  junior  year,  or  so-called 
senior  college.  This  plan,  as  will  be  seen  from  the  diagram, 
can  be  made  to  meet  the  needs  of  different  social  classes  with 
different  educational  destinations,  can  so  shorten  college  and 
professional  preparation  that  our  youth  may  complete  their 
professional  preparation  some  two  years  earlier  than  at 
present  and  begin  their  life-work  at  an  earlier  age,  can  be 
adapted  easily  to  the  needs  of  the  new  vocational  education, 
and  can  be  fitted  to  continuation  schools  which  will  carry 
the  youth  along  to  the  age  of  eighteen  in  vocational  lines. 

Advantages  of  such  educational  reorganization.  The 
6-3-3  plan  not  only  makes  better  provision  for  meeting 
varying  educational  and  social  needs,  but  can  be  defended 
as  psychologically  more  sound  than  the  8-4  plan.  The  age 
of  twelve,  rather  than  the  age  of  fourteen,  is  the  dividing 
place  between  the  pre-adolescent  and  the  adolescent  stages 
of  development,  and  the  place  where  methods  and  types  of 
instruction  should  change.     By  a  rearrangement  by  means 


462  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

of  which  each  division  of  the  school  system  is  made  to  serve 
a  distinct  educational,  social,  and  psychological  purpose,  and 
has  a  distinct  outline  of  work  shaped  to  meet  such  ends,  the 
school  is  made  into  a  much  more  useful  social  institution. 
Eight  years,  beginning  at  six,  carries  the  child  beyond  the 
period  necessary  for  acquiring  the  tools  of  knowledge,  and 
beyond  the  natural  division  of  his  life  which  comes  at  the 
dawn  of  adolescence. 

Instead  of  being  kept  under  grade  teachers,  grinding  on 
the  tools  of  knowledge  long  past  the  period  of  interest  in 
such  work,  the  child  at  twelve  passes  to  a  school  organized 
by  subjects,  taught  by  teachers  with  better  preparation  in 
specialized  lines,  and  better  adapted  to  utilize  that  curiosity, 
eagerness,  plasticity,  impressionability,  and  ambition  to- 
ward adult  goals  which  characterize  the  years  from  twelve 
to  fifteen  or  sixteen.  In  such  a  school  general  courses,  offer- 
ing a  survey  of  the  fields  of  human  knowledge,  and  some 
opportunity  to  determine  individual  aptitudes,  should  be 
the  characteristics  of  the  instruction.  There  should  also  be 
some  options  and  differentiations  in  courses  to  meet  the 
needs  of  different  types  of  children. 

With  such  an  introductory  training  pupils  would  be  far 
better  fitted  to  enter  and  carry  the  work  of  the  regular  high 
school  which  follows,  or  to  turn  to  the  trade  and  vocational 
courses  and  become  intelligent  workers  in  our  modern  in- 
dustrial society.  With  such  an  educational  reorganization 
it  should  be  the  ambition  of  every  community  to  see  that 
every  normal  pupil,  before  the  compulsory  school-years 
have  passed,  shall  have  completed  the  six-year  elementary 
course  and  some  line  of  study  in  the  three-year  intermediate 
or  junior  high  school.  In  cities  willing  to  organize  their 
schools  on  the  6-3-5  plan,  as  many  California  cities  have 
done,  the  completion  of  the  fourteenth  grade,  at  twenty, 
should  provide  a  good  college  education,  well  adapted  either 
to  professional  study  or  to  the  duties  of  municipal  or  political 
life. 

The  Flexner  "  Modern  School  '*  proposal.    In  1916  Presi- 


DESIRABLE  EDUCATIONAL  REORGANIZATIONS    463 

dent  Eliot  published  a  paper  on  the  "  Changes  needed  in 
American  Secondary  Education,"  in  which  he  urged  that 
"the  best  part  of  all  human  knowledge  has  come  by  exact 
and  studied  observation  made  through  the  senses,"  and  that 
"the  most  important  part  of  education  has  always  been  the 
training  of  the  senses  through  which  the  best  part  of  knowl- 
edge comes."  He  accordingly  urged  that  our  high  schools 
give  much  more  time  to  scientific  and  technical  instruction 
in  place  of  their  excessive  devotion  to  book-subject  studies. 
This  was  followed,  in  1917,  by  a  paper  on  "A  Modern 
School,"  by  Abraham  Flexner,  of  The  General  Education 
Board,  which  was  in  a  way  a  constructive  sequel  to  Presi- 
dent Eliot's  paper.  In  this  he  asserted  that  tradition  largely 
determined  what  was  taught  in  our  high  schools;  showed 
that  the  great  amount  of  time  spent  on  Latin,  literature,  and 
mathematics  did  not  produce  results;  and  asserted  that  a 
modern  school  should  make  it  much  more  important  to 
young  people  to  know,  to  care  about,  and  to  understand 
the  physical  and  social  world  in  which  they  live.  To  this 
end  a  modern  secondary-school  course  of  study  should 
emphasize  activities  in  four  fields : 

1.  Science  —  This  to  be  the  central  feature  of  the  school. 

2.  Industry  —  The  occupations  and  trades  of  the  indus- 
trial world. 

3.  Civics  —  History,  civic  institutions,  and  the  organi- 
zation of  society  and  government. 

4.  ^Esthetics  —  Literature,  languages,  music,  and  art. 
He  also  contended  that  the  subjects  of  the  high-school  course 
were  in  need  of  revision  to  eliminate  useless  material  and  to 
add  much-needed  new  material.  Still  further,  he  contended 
that  all  general  education  should  be  completed  by  the  age 
of  twenty,  so  that  young  people  could  enter  on  professional 
study  or  life-work  by  that  age. 

The  latter  paper  brought  forth  much  discussion,  and 
some  bitter  criticism  from  the  partisans  of  the  old  classical 
training.  Finally  a  school,  to  carry  out  the  experiment  and 
evolve  the  kind  of  modern  instruction  described,  was  en- 


464  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

dowed  by  The  General  Education  Board,  in  New  York 
City,  and  placed  under  the  direction  of  the  Teachers  College 
at  Columbia  University.  The  work  to  be  done  in  this 
school  will  be  well  worth  watching,  as  it  is  likely  to  work  out 
important  new  lines  in  secondary-school  instruction. 

The  Gary  idea.  Another  educational  reorganization,  or 
rather  the  construction  of  a  school  system  from  the  founda- 
tions along  new  lines,  is  represented  by  the  school  system 
recently  built  up  at  Gary,  Indiana.  This  represents  one  of 
the  most  original  pieces  of  constructive  work  ever  attempted 
in  American  education,  and  contains  many  ideas  of  impor- 
tance for  our  schools.  Whether  or  not  the  Gary  idea  will, 
in  time,  become  a  common  type  of  school  one  cannot  now 
say,  but  it  represents  a  type  of  social  service  of  which  few 
schools  as  at  present  organized  are  capable.  In  some  form 
this  idea  has  been  adopted  in  a  number  of  our  cities. 

At  Gary  the  schools  run  on  a  four-quarter  plan,  each 
quarter  of  twelve  weeks'  duration;  the  school  plant  is  a 
play-ground,  garden,  workshop,  social  center,  library,  and 
a  traditional-type  school  all  combined  in  one;  the  elemen- 
tary-school and  the  high-school  work  are  both  given  under 
the  same  roof;  some  of  the  high-school  subjects  begin  as  early 
as  the  fifth  grade;  specialization  in  the  instruction  and,  in 
consequence,  departmental  instruction  run  through  the 
schools;  classes  in  special  out-door  activities  and  shop  work 
are  carried  on  at  the  same  time  as  indoor  classes,  thus  dou- 
bling the  capacity  of  the  school  plant;  the  school  day  is  eight 
hours  long,  with  the  school  plant  open  also  all  day  Saturday; 
continuation  schools  and  social  and  recreational  centers  are 
conducted  in  the  same  plant  in  the  evenings;  and  play  and 
vocational  work  are  important  features  of  the  instruction  in 
all  schools.  Each  school  is,  in  effect,  a  world  in  itself,  busily 
engaged  in  the  work  and  play  and  government  of  the  world, 
and  so  well  do  such  activities  and  a  highly  flexible  curricu- 
lum meet  the  needs  of  all  classes  that  the  need  for  most  of  the 
promotional  machinery  and  special-type  classes  and  schools 
found  elsewhere  is  here  eliminated. 


DESIRABLE  EDUCATIONAL  REORGANIZATIONS    465 

Significance  of  the  reorganization  movement.  It  has 
been  the  effort  to  readjust  the  work  of  our  inherited  educa- 
tional system  to  meet  the  changed  conditions  in  our  national 
life  —  social,  industrial,  political,  religious,  economic,  scien- 
tific —  brought  about  by  the  industrial  revolution  of  the 
latter  part  of  the  nineteenth  century,  which  has  been  behind 
all  the  discussion  and  the  efforts  at  educational  reorganisa- 
tion since  President  Eliot  started  the  discussion  thirty  years 
ago.  The  question  is  as  yet  by  no  means  settled,  and  fur- 
ther, the  need  for  educational  reorganizations  is  certain  to 
be  given  new  emphasis  by  the  new  position  the  United 
States  will  occupy  in  world  affairs  as  a  result  of  the  World 
War.  New  committees  will  be  appointed  to  consider  the 
question,  new  experiments  will  be  tried,  new  courses  of 
study  will  be  worked  out,  much  old  subject-matter  will 
be  eliminated,  new  textbooks  will  be  written,  and  perhaps 
more  than  one  new  type  of  school  will  be  perfected.  The 
day  of  the  simple  uniform  school  system  has  gone  forever, 
but  underneath  all  the  discussion  and  the  present  diversity 
in  practice  lies  a  serious  attempt  to  create,  by  evolution 
from  what  we  now  have,  a  new  and  a  better  system  of  public 
education,  better  adapted  to  the  needs  of  child  life  and  the 
needs  of  the  scientific,  democratic,  and  industrial  world  in 
which  we  live. 

III.  The  Reorganization  and  Redirection  of  Rural 
and  Village  Education 

All  progress  sketched  city  progress.  The  reader  probably 
has  been  impressed,  before  this,  by  the  fact  that  practically 
all  of  the  educational  progress  so  far  sketched  as  happening 
within  the  past  half-century  has  been  city  progress.  This, 
unfortunately  for  rural  and  village  education,  is  only  too 
true.  The  firm  establishment  of  the  Massachusetts  district 
system  in  the  States,  described  in  Chapter  VIII,  and  the 
fastening  on  the  schools,  as  a  result  of  the  early  democratic 
movement,  of  a  political  instead  of  an  educational  basis  for 
the  selection  of  county  and  state  school  superintendents,  as 


466 


EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 


described  in  Chapter  VI,  have  together  combined  to  deprive 
the  rural  and  village  schools  of  our  country  of  any  real  edu- 
cational leadership,  and  to  keep  rural  and  village  education 
from  making  the  progress  needed  to  meet  the  changed  con- 
ditions of  rural  and  village  life.  The  cities,  by  the  early 
elimination  of  their  school  districts  (p.  237)  and  elective 
superintendents,  have  been  able  to  draw  to  the  management 
of  their  school  systems  the  keenest  thinkers  and  the 
most  capable  administrators  engaged  in  educational  work. 
In  any  line  of  work  involving  good  organization  and  adapta- 
tion to  rapidly  changing  conditions,  nothing  counts  for  so 
much  as  good  leadership  at  the  top.  Of  this  our  city  school 
systems  have  for  long  had  a  monopoly. 

The  rural  and  village  schools  of  most  of  our  States,  cut  off 
by  law  from  securing  such  directive  oversight  from  outside 

the  county,  and  split 
up  into  thousands  of 
little  unrelated  school 
districts,  inspired  by 
no  unity  of  purpose 
and  animated  by  no 
modern  conception  of 
educational  work,  have 
gone  along  without 
much  change  since  the 
days  of  the  sixties.  Too 
often  the  little  rural 
school  stands  to-day  as  a  forlorn  and  shrunken  landmark  of 
what  used  to  be  an  important  rural  social  and  educational 
institution.  The  textbooks  have  been  revised  and  made 
uniform,  to  be  sure,  but  the  new  books  adopted  have  been 
books  written  primarily  with  city  and  not  rural  needs  in 
view.  A  uniform  course  of  study  has  been  introduced, 
usually  of  the  formal  and  drill  type,  but  until  recently 
with  but  little  adaptation  to  rural  needs.  Normal-trained 
teachers,  trained  for  city  grade  work,  have  been  employed, 
but  they  have  taught  in  terms  of  city  needs,  and  have  de- 


tAim&r* 


Fig.  83.  One  op  the  Landmarks 


DESIRABLE  EDUCATIONAL  REORGANIZATIONS    467 

serted  the  rural  school  for  a  city  position  at  the  earliest 
opportunity.  Some  formal  agriculture  has  recently  been 
introduced  into  the  course  of  study,  but  without  provision 
for  its  supervision  or  adequate  facilities  for  the  work,  and 
the  city-trained  teacher  has  usually  not  known  what  to  do 
with  it.  The  natural  result  is  that  our  rural  and  village 
schools  have  remained  bookish,  their  work  unrelated  to 
farm  life,  and  their  influence  away  from  the  farm.  In  con- 
sequence, country  people  have  largely  lost  interest  in  them, 
and  many  have  rented  their  farms  and  moved  to  town,  in 
large  part  to  obtain  better  educational  advantages  for  their 
children. 

The  new  rural-life  problem.  In  the  mean  time,  since  the 
days  when  the  district  system  flourished  in  all  its  glory,  and 
when  eighty  per  cent  of  our  people  lived  on  the  farm  or  in 
the  little  village  and  under  rather  simple  living  conditions,  a 
vast  and  far-reaching  revolution  has  taken  place  in  the 
character  of  rural  and  village  life.  Inventions,  labor-saving 
machinery,  steam,  electricity,  the  automobile,  improved 
roads  and  means  for  transportation,  rural  mail  delivery,  the 
increase  of  conveniences  and  comforts,  the  rise  of  the  cheap 
illustrated  magazine,  the  circulation  of  the  city  daily  paper, 
new  world  interests,  new  agricultural  knowledge,  new  and 
more  distant  markets,  commercial  large-scale  farming,  the 
rapid  rise  of  farm  tenantry,  the  influx  of  the  foreign-born 
into  rural  districts,  the  decay  of  the  rural  church,  the  dying 
out  of  the  old  rural  social  life,  the  decline  of  the  old  farm 
and  village  industries,  the  coming  of  a  new  type  of  tenant 
farmer,  the  cityward  migration  of  the  best  and  the  poor- 
est of  the  rural  population,  the  decline  in  interest  in  local 
government  as  larger  national  and  world  interests  have 
come  in,  the  intellectual  revolution  which  has  followed  the 
industrial  revolution,  —  all  these  have  combined  to  change 
the  whole  face  of  the  rural-life  educational  problem. 

To  one  who  has  given  little  or  no  thought  to  the  subject 
it  is  hard  to  appreciate  the  great  change  in  rural  and  village 
life  wbkh  lias  taken  place  within  the  past  half-century.    It 


468  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

has  been  of  far-reaching  importance,  and  has  touched  every 
phase  of  rural  life.  Almost  nothing  is  now  as  it  used  to  be; 
almost  nothing  is  done  as  it  was  a  half -century  ago.  No- 
where has  the  social  and  industrial  revolution  wrought 
greater  alterations  than  in  the  village  or  on  the  farm,  and 
nowhere  in  our  national  life  have  the  institutions  of  society 
made  so  little  change  to  meet  the  new  conditions.  The  re- 
sult has  been  the  rapid  development  of  a  rural-life  problem 
of  large  magnitude  and  of  great  social,  economic,  and  edu- 
cational consequences,  the  solution  of  which  lies  largely  in 
the  provision  of  a  new  type  of  rural  and  village  school,  and 
the  reorganization  and  redirection  of  rural  education. 

Effect  of  these  changes  on  the  rural  school.  Under  the 
stress  of  these  new  life  conditions  the  old  supervision  by  the 
district  school  trustees  has  completely  broken  down,  while 
the  expanding  scope  of  all  education  to-day  has  left  the  little 
independent  district  too  small  a  unit  to  make  any  adequate 
provision  for  modern  rural  or  village  educational  needs. 
Only  in  remote  districts  or  in  isolated  country  places  does  the 
district  system  longer  render  any  important  service.  The 
boy  or  girl  on  the  farm  or  in  the  little  village  does  not  to-day 
receive  a  fair  deal,  and  can  never  hope  to  receive  as  good  an 
education  as  the  city  boy  or  girl  so  long  as  the  outgrown  dis- 
trict system  continues  to  attempt  the  impossible,  and  so 
long  as  local  political  availability  rather  than  educational 
training  and  competence  rules  in  the  selection  of  our  county 
superintendents  of  schools.  If  there  is  any  clear  and  unmis- 
takable lesson  to  be  drawn  from  the  administrative  experi- 
ence of  our  city  school  systems,  it  is  that  the  prime  essen- 
tials for  good  school  organization  and  administration  are 
the  abolition  of  school-district  control,  the  unification  of  all 
schools  under  one  board  and  one  superintendent  for  admin- 
istration and  supervision,  larger  units  for  school  finance, 
and  the  entire  elimination  of  party  politics  and  local  resi- 
dence requirements  in  the  selection  of  superintendents  of 
schools.  If  rural  people  could  only  understand  how  much 
better  schools  they  could  have,  often  for  the  same  money,  if 


DESIRABLE  EDUCATIONAL  REORGANIZATIONS    469 

for  the  district  system  they  substituted  a  much  larger  unit 
for  administration,  the  district  system  would  soon  be  placed 
where  many  other  outgrown  institutions  of  society  have 
been. 

That  the  district  system  is  wasteful  of  effort  and  funds, 
results  in  great  educational  waste,  is  unprogressive  to  a  high 
degree,  leads  to  an  unwise  multiplication  of  little  schools, 
does  not  provide  adequately  for  the  needs  of  country  and 
village  boys  and  girls,  and  that  any  marked  general  educa- 
tional progress  is  impossible  under  it,  no  longer  admits  of 
successful  contradiction.  Here  and  there  one  occasionally 
hears  of  a  redirected  rural  or  village  school  which  is  render- 
ing a  real  service,  but  these  are  few  in  number,  and  the 
progress  made  is  too  slow  and  too  local  to  be  of  much  value. 

The  school-consolidation  movement.  Having  started  the 
mischief  in  the  early  days  of  its  history,  Massachusetts  was 
the  first  State  to  try  to  remedy  the  matter.     As  early  as 


«0m0s$* 


i»j. 

£$*.«---• 


Fio.  84.  A  Consolidated  Community-Center  School 

Compare  this  with  the  scboolhouse  shown  on  page  tiS  as  a  place  for  country  boys 
and  girls  to  go  to  school. 


1869  this  State  enacted  legislation  permitting  the  consoli- 
dation of  school  districts,  and  in  1882  finally  abolished  the 
district  system  by  law  and  restored  the  old  town  system 
from  which  the  district  system  had  evolved  (see  drawing  on 
p.  42).  After  this  abolition  of  the  district  system,  the  con- 
solidation of  schools  in  Massachusetts  became  more  rapid, 
and  by  about  1890  the  idea  spread  to  other  States.     Ohio, 


470  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

in  1892,  was  the  first  State  west  of  the  Alleghenies  to  permit 
the  union  of  two  or  more  districts  to  form  a  consolidated 
school.  Indiana  began  consolidation  in  1901,  and,  largely- 
due  to  its  earlier  abolition  of  the  district  system,  the  idea 
has  made  remarkable  progress  there.  Many  other  States 
have  experimented  with  the  idea,  though  due  to  the  diffi- 
culty of  securing  popular  consent  to  the  abandonment  of  a 
number  of  little  districts,  not  much  progress  has  been  made 
in  any  strong  district-system  State. 

The  essential  features  of  the  consolidation  plan  are  an 
agreement,  usually  by  vote  at  an  election  called  for  the  pur- 
pose, to  abandon  three,  four,  five,  or  more  little  district 
schools;  to  erect  instead  a  good  modern  school  building  at 
some  central  place;  to  haul  the  children  by  wagon  or  auto- 
mobile from  their  homes  each  day  to  this  central  school  in 
the  morning,  and  back  home  in  the  late  afternoon;  and  at 
this  central  school  to  provide  graded  instruction,  a  partial 
or  complete  high  school,  agriculture,  manual  and  domestic 
work,  and  many  of  the  advantages  now  enjoyed  by  city 
children.  Such  a  school  can  also  be  made  a  rural  commu- 
nity-center school  by  adding  an  assembly  hall,  branch  library 
room,  and  play-grounds.  The  picture  on  the  preceding  page 
shows  such  a  school,  containing  six  classrooms,  an  assem- 
bly hall,  and  library  on  the  main  floor,  manual-training 
room,  domestic-science  room,  an  agricultural  laboratory, 
toilet  rooms,  and  indoor  play-rooms  in  the  basement. 

County-unit  consolidation.  The  trouble  with  all  such  vol- 
untary consolidation  of  school  districts  lies  in  that  consolida- 
tion proceedings  are  very  hard  to  get  started,  district  jeal- 
ousies and  district  inertia  usually  prevent  the  union  district 
being  made  large  enough  at  the  start,  and  but  few  voluntary 
unions  can  be  secured.  The  left-hand  figure  in  the  drawing 
on  the  opposite  page  shows  the  usual  result  under  a  volun- 
tary, district-vote  plan.  The  one  consolidated  district  may 
have  cost  ten  years  of  popular  education,  and  then  probably 
is  too  small. 

After  nearly  twenty  years  of  trial  and  effort  we  now  see 


DESIRABLE  EDUCATIONAL  REORGANIZATIONS    471 

not  only  that  voluntary  consolidation  is  inadequate  and  too 
slow,  but  that  the  new  rural  educational  demands  require 
not  only  more  rapid  but  also  more  extensive  reorganization 
than  voluntary  effort  can  secure.  Only  by  the  use  of  a  unit 
as  large  as  the  county  can  the  right  kind  of  consolidation 
and  the  right  type  of  school  be  provided,  and  this  must  be 
superimposed  on  the  districts  by  general  state  law.  Such  a 
county-unit  consolidation  is  shown  in  the  right-hand  figure 
of  the  drawing  below. 

In  this  second  case  the  county  has  been  dealt  with  as  a 
whole,  and  a  county-unit  school  system  has  been  substituted 


* 

♦    « 

1  * 

♦ 

♦ 

♦ 

t      — i — 

1  *   * 

rrlsfci!ta  a 

In* 

*   ♦   * 

♦            1 

J  V    F 

♦ 

♦ 

t\i/ 

IS 

Consol  Sch 

* 

*       -r 

»  ♦   * 

* 

*t~.  «. 

*     ♦      o 

o      ♦     ♦ 

♦ 

♦ 

*  * 

* 

r         » 

Voluntary  District  Consolidation  County-unit  Consolidation 

Fig.  85.  Rural  Educational  Reorganization 

Eighty-eight  school  districts  consolidated  into  ten. 


for  the  district  systems  of  the  other  figure.  The  central  city 
school  system  may  have  been  left  under  the  control  of  its 
separate  city  board  of  education,  though  compelled  to  annex, 
for  school  purposes,  a  number  of  adjacent  school  districts. 
Otherwise  the  county  has  been  consolidated  by  state  law 
into  one  county  school  district;  all  the  old  small  districts 
and  their  boards  of  district  trustees  have  been  abolished; 
and  for  the  management  of  the  new  county  school  district 


472  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

the  people  of  the  county  have  elected  a  county  board  of 
education  of  five  citizens,  much  as  they  elect  a  county 
board  of  five  supervisors  to  oversee  county  expenses,  build 
roads  and  bridges,  and  supervise  the  poor  relief  and  county 
hospital  and  poor  farm.  This  county  board  of  education  is 
exactly  analogous  to  a  city  board  of  education,  and  has 
substantially  the  same  powers.  It  selects  and  appoints  a 
county  superintendent  of  schools,  being  free  to  go  anywhere 
and  pay  what  they  feel  they  can  afford  to  get  the  man  or 
woman  they  want  for  the  office.  With  the  aid  of  the 
county  superintendent  the  county  board  consolidates  the 
small  scattered  schools;  erects  larger  and  more  modern 
buildings  at  central  points;  provides  "teacherages"  for 
each;  changes  district  attendance  lines  as  need  for  so  doing 
arises;  establishes  kindergartens  and  high  schools  in  con- 
nection with  these  central  schools;  can  reorganize  the  school 
work  by  providing  intermediate  schools  and  departmental 
organization;  may  provide  for  a  county  high  school  of  agri- 
culture and  manual  and  household  arts;  establishes  county 
health  supervision  and  employs  a  traveling  county  school 
nurse;  unites  with  the  city  in  maintaining  a  parental  school; 
and  provides  assistant  county  superintendents  who  act  as 
supervisors  of  primary  work,  agriculture,  household  arts, 
music  and  drawing,  etc.  The  board  also  employs  all  teach- 
ers and  principals,  builds  and  repairs  all  schoolhouses,  levies 
one  county  school-tax  for  maintaining  all  schools,  and  other- 
wise conducts  the  schools  of  the  county  just  as  a  city  board 
of  education  conducts  the  schools  of  a  city.  About  the  only 
difference  is  that  the  schools  are  somewhat  smaller  than  in 
the  city,  are  farther  apart,  and  that  the  education  is  di- 
rected toward  the  farm  and  rural-life  and  home  needs  instead 
of  cityward  and  for  city  ends. 

What  such  a  reorganization  would  mean.  Such  county- 
unit  consolidation  is  by  no  means  theoretical,  but  is  found 
well-developed  in  Maryland  and  Utah,  and  in  a  more  or  less 
well-developed  form  in  a  number  of  Southern  States.  The 
school  system  which  the  United  States  organized  for  Porto 


DESIRABLE  EDUCATIONAL  REORGANIZATIONS    473 

Rico  was  organized  on  this  plan.  It  has  so  many  advan- 
tages, is  so  well  adapted  to  meet  the  new  rural-life  problems, 
and  under  it  rural  education  can  so  easily  be  redirected  and 
enriched  along  the  lines  needed  by  rural  and  village  boys  and 
girls,  that  it  or  some  modification  of  it  now  promises  to  be 
the  coming  form  of  educational  organization  for  all  territory 
lying  outside  the  separately  organized  cities. 

With  about  ten  to  fifteen  such  consolidated  schools  to  an 
average  Middle-West  county,  instead  of  eighty  to  a  hundred 
and  twenty  little  insignificant  schools,  or  something  like 
eight  to  twelve  hundred  such  consolidated  schools  to  an  aver- 
age State  instead  of  eight  to  twelve  thousand  little  district 
schools,  the  whole  nature  of  rural  life  and  education  could  be 
reshaped  and  redirected  in  a  decade,  and  life  on  the  farm 
and  in  the  village  would  be  given  a  new  meaning.  Such  a 
change  would  also  dispense  with  the  need  for  the  services  of 
from  2500  to  3000  of  the  cheapest  and  most  poorly  edu- 
cated rural  teachers  of  the  State,  as  well  as  some  24,000 
to  36,000  district-school  trustees  —  both  of  which  would  be 
educational  gains  of  no  small  importance.  In  place  of  this 
army  of  school  trustees,  five  citizens  for  each  county,  or 
about  five  hundred  for  a  State,  would  manage  much  better 
than  now  all  educational  affairs  of  the  rural  and  village 
schools.  The  Baltimore  County,  Maryland,  county-unit 
school  system,  which  has  often  been  described,  forms  an 
interesting  example  of  what  can  be  accomplished  by  such  an 
educational  reorganization  and  redirection. 

After  a  few  years  under  such  a  county-unit  reorganization 
each  county  would  have  a  small  number  of  modern-type 
consolidated  schools,  rendering  effective  rural  service,  and, 
if  properly  located,  serving  as  centers  for  the  community 
life.  High-school  education,  directed  toward  rural-  and 
village-life  needs,  would  become  common  for  all,  instead  of 
as  at  present  only  for  city  and  town  children;  adequate  pro- 
fessional supervision  would  direct  the  work;  and  the  curricu- 
lum could  be  tied  up  closely  with  the  rich  life  experiences  of 
rural  boys  and  girls.     What  now  seems  so  wonderful  and  so 


474  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

exceptional,  when  carried  through  here  and  there  by  some 
especially  intelligent  and  persuasive  county  superintendent, 
would  then  become  the  rule.  The  chief  right  of  which  the 
people  of  the  rural  districts  would  be  deprived  by  such  a  re- 
organization would  be  the  right  to  continue  to  mismanage 
and  misdirect  the  education  of  their  children  by  means  of 
a  system  of  school  organization  and  administration  the  use- 
fulness of  which  has  long  passed  by. 

IV.  State  Educational  Reorganization 

The  chief  state  school  officer.  Closely  related  to  the 
county  educational  reorganization  which  we  have  just 
sketched  is  the  problem  of  state  educational  reorganization, 
which  is  fast  coming  to  the  front  as  another  of  our  important 
educational  reorganization  questions.  As  was  stated  in 
Chapter  VI,  when  we  finally  decided  to  establish  the  office  of 
state  school  superintendent,  we  almost  everywhere  turned 
to  popular  election  as  the  means  for  filling  the  office.  As 
was  explained  on  page  161,  this  at  the  time  seemed  the 
natural  and  proper  method,  as  the  office  was  then  conceived 
of  as  being  much  like  that  of  a  State  Auditor  or  State  Land 
Agent.  The  early  duties  were  almost  wholly  financial,  sta- 
tistical, clerical,  and  exhortatory;  the  office  required  no 
special  professional  knowledge;  and  any  citizen  possessing 
energy,  a  strong  personality,  and  a  belief  in  general  educa- 
tion at  public  expense  could  fill  it.  Many  of  the  most  suc- 
cessful early  state  school  officers  were  ministers  or  lawyers. 

Since  these  earlier  days  the  whole  character  of  our  popular 
education  has  changed,  and  education  at  public  expense  has 
been  transformed  into  a  great  state,  one  might  almost  say, 
a  great  national  interest.  From  a  mere  teaching  institution 
the  school  has  been  raised  to  the  foremost  place  as  a  con- 
structive agent  in  our  democratic  life.  Public  education 
to-day  represents  our  greatest  national  undertaking,  and, 
aside  from  the  army,  our  most  highly  organized  public  ef- 
fort. Since  the  first  establishment  of  state  school  systems 
permission  has  everywhere  been  changed  to  obligation; 


DESIRABLE  EDUCATIONAL  REORGANIZATIONS    475 

functions  formerly  entrusted  to  the  districts  have  been 
taken  over  by  the  county  or  the  State;  new  and  far  larger 
demands  have  been  made  on  communities;  new  aims  and 
purposes  in  instruction  have  been  set  up;  and  entirely  new 
problems  in  organization,  administration,  instruction,  sani- 
tation, and  child  welfare  have  been  pushed  to  the  front. 
The  different  State  School  Codes  have  become  bulky,  and 
school  legislation  has  come  to  demand  a  professional  knowl- 
edge and  an  expertness  of  judgment  which  formerly  was  not 
required.  The  exhorter  and  the  institute  worker  have  come 
to  be  needed  less  and  less,  and  the  student  of  education  and 
the  trained  administrator  more  and  more.  As  a  result,  a 
well-thought-out  state  educational  policy  is  now  a  necessity 
if  intelligent  progress  is  to  be  made. 

Election  and  appointment  of  experts.  Only  in  the  cities, 
though,  has  our  administrative  organization  kept  pace 
with  our  educational  development  along  other  lines.  The 
school  in  its  development,  has  outrun  the  thinking  of  those 
who  direct  it  in  district,  county,  and  State.  Though  the 
expert  and  professional  character  of  the  office  of  State  Super- 
intendent of  Public  Instruction  is  now  somewhat  generally 
recognized,  the  office  itself,  in  most  of  our  States,  is  still  in  a 
backward  state  of  development,  and  realizes  but  a  small 
fraction  of  its  possible  efficiency.  In  two  thirds  of  our 
American  States  we  still  trust  to  political  nomination,  and 
the  popular  election  of  residents  of  the  State  willing  to  enter 
political  candidacy  for  the  office,  to  secure  the  head  of  our 
state  school  systems,  though  not  employing  the  method  to 
select  the  state  geologist,  state  horticultural  commissioner, 
state  highway  engineer,  state  entomologist,  state  forester, 
secretary  of  the  state  board  of  health,  or  president  of  the 
state  university. 

There  is  no  reason,  though,  except  the  historical  one,  why 
we  should  elect  the  head  of  the  state  school  system  and  not 
elect  the  other  experts  mentioned,  or  why  we  should  appoint 
them  and  not  appoint  the  head  of  the  state  school  system. 
The  argument  so  often  advanced  that  by  so  doing  we  would 


476  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

be  taking  the  schools  away  from  the  people  represents  either 
sheer  ignorance  or  political  claptrap,  as  a  comparison  with 
the  other  experts  mentioned  at  once  reveals.  What  the 
people  want  is  good  government  and  efficient  service  from 
their  public  servants,  and  it  is  axiomatic  in  government  that 
experts  should  be  selected  by  an  individual  or  by  a  small 
responsible  body,  and  not  elected  by  the  people  themselves. 
It  is  then  the  business  of  such  an  employing  board  to  over- 
see the  experts  it  selects,  hold  them  strictly  accountable  for 
results,  protect  them  in  the  discharge  of  their  duties  from 
injust  attacks,  and  dismiss  them  whenever  they  cease  to  be 
competent. 

State  school  officer  and  president  of  university  compared. 
The  situation  can  perhaps  best  be  seen  if  we  compare  the 
two  offices  of  head  of  the  state  school  system  and  president 
of  the  state  university.  Probably  no  position  in  the  whole 
state  public  service  has  greater  possibilities  for  constructive 
statesmanship  than  the  position  of  state  superintendent  of 
public  instruction  in  one  of  our  American  States.  As  a  posi- 
tion it  is,  potentially  at  least,  a  more  important  one  than 
that  of  the  president  of  the  state  university.  No  president 
of  an  American  state  university  ever  exercised  a  greater  in- 
fluence in  a  State  or  shaped  to  better  advantage  the  des- 
tinies of  the  people  by  his  labors  than  did  Horace  Mann  in 
Massachusetts. 

The  chief  reason  why  one  is  appointed  and  the  other 
elected  is  that  the  college  and  the  university  have  their  roots 
buried  back  in  the  Middle  Ages,  and  appointment  of  the 
rector,  chancellor,  or  president  has  always  been  the  rule, 
whereas  the  office  of  state  superintendent  of  schools  is  a 
wholly  modern  creation.  When  our  American  States 
founded  their  state  universities  they  organized  them  after 
the  pattern  of  the  ages;  when  they  created  the  new  office  of 
head  of  their  newly  evolved  democratic  school  system  they 
followed  the  new  democratic  idea  of  the  people  electing 
every  public  official.  The  governing  body  for  the  university 
(board  of  trustees,  or  regents)  has  often  been  elected  by 


DESIRABLE  EDUCATIONAL  REORGANIZATIONS    477 

the  people,  but  the  president  and  professors  have  always 
been  recognized  as  expert  state  servants,  and  appointed 
without  reference  to  residence,  politics,  race,  sex,  or  religion. 
Under  such  a  plan  our  universities  have  made  wonderful 
progress.  Imagine  the  result,  though,  if  you  can,  had  the 
people  nominated  and  elected,  along  political  lines  and  al- 
ways from  among  the  citizens  of  the  State,  the  president  of 
the  state  university  as  they  do  the  head  of  the  state  school 
system,  and  the  heads  of  departments  in  the  university  as 
they  do  the  heads  of  the  county  school  systems  in  the  State. 
It  is  hard  to  conceive  what  Republican  Chemistry,  Demo- 
cratic Latin,  Prohibitionist  English,  or  Union-Labor  History, 
would  be  like. 

That  the  office  of  head  of  the  state  school  system  has  not 
measured  up  with  that  of  the  presidency  of  the  state  univer- 
sity is  a  matter  of  common  knowledge,  and  it  has  not  done 
so  largely  because  the  office  has  for  so  long  been  afflicted 
with  the  blight  of  partisan  politics;  been  one  of  the  lowest- 
salaried  positions  within  the  gift  of  the  State;  and  because 
political  expediency,  rather  than  any  educational  standard, 
has  been  the  measuring  stick  used  in  selecting  candidates  for 
the  position.  The  people  seldom  have  an  opportunity  to 
vote  for  a  really  good  man  for  the  office,  as  the  best  men 
usually  cannot  be  induced  to  become  candidates.  Of  a  few 
States  where  the  office  is  elective  this  at  times  has  not  been 
true,  but  not  of  many,  and  usually  not  for  long  in  any  State. 
In  some  of  our  States  the  traditions  of  the  office  have  settled 
down  to  merely  that  of  a  retiring  job  for  some  old  and  rea- 
sonably successful  practitioner  from  the  ranks,  and  in  con- 
sequence has  commanded  but  little  respect  or  authority. 

Lack  of  a  consecutive  state  educational  policy.  As  a 
result,  few  of  our  States  to-day  reveal,  in  their  educational 
and  legislative  history,  any  evidence  of  having  followed  for 
any  length  of  time  a  well-thought-out  educational  policy. 
Often  the  state  oversight  has  been  of  a  distinctively  laissez- 
faire  type,  the  officer  acting  largely  as  a  clerk,  statistical 
agent,  tax  distributor,  and  institute  lecturer.    School  legis- 


478  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

lation  has  represented  expediency,  has  been  of  the  patch- 
work variety,  and  a  conception  of  the  State  as  an  active  and 
energetic  agent  for  the  improvement  of  educational  condi- 
tions and  the  advancement  of  the  public  welfare  has  been 
entirely  lacking. 

When  we  turn  to  the  State  of  Massachusetts  we  get  an 
example  of  the  opposite  of  these  tendencies  and  results. 
Thanks  perhaps  to  her  strong  aristocratic  leanings,  when 
the  State  Board  of  Education  was  created,  in  1837,  the 
State  provided  for  the  appointment  by  it  of  a  Secretary  to 
act  as  head  of  the  school  system,  and  not  for  the  popular 
election  of  a  chief  state  school  officer.  The  result  was  the 
appointment  of  Horace  Mann  as  the  first  Secretary,  he 
holding  the  position,  despite  abuse  and  bitter  attacks,  until 
his  election  to  succeed  John  Quincy  Adams  as  a  Member  of 
Congress  from  Massachusetts,  twelve  years  later.  Had  he 
been  compelled  to  submit  himself  to  the  people  every  two 
or  four  years  for  reelection,  there  were  times  when  he  could 
not  have  been  reelected,  and  had  the  office  been  an  elective 
instead  of  an  appointive  one  it  is  more  than  probable  that 
Mann  would  have  remained  a  lawyer  and  never  been  known 
as  a  school  administrator. 

Largely  as  a  result  of  the  Massachusetts  conception  of  the 
importance  of  the  chief  state  educational  office,  the  leader- 
ship of  that  State  in  educational  progress  has  been  one  of 
the  marked  features  of  our  educational  history.  Since  the 
establishment  of  the  office  of  Secretary,  in  1837,  but  nine 
persons  have  held  the  office  up  to  the  present  time,  and  all 
have  been  educational  leaders  and  statesmen  of  a  high  order. 
The  present  incumbent  (1919;  now  called  Commissioner  of 
Education)  was  called  to  the  position  in  1916  from  the  head 
of  the  school  system  of  Maine;  his  predecessor  from  a  profes- 
sorship of  school  administration  at  Teachers  College,  Colum- 
bia; and  his  predecessor  from  the  position  of  assistant  super- 
intendent of  the  schools  of  Boston.  One  who  has  read  the 
preceding  chapters  of  this  book  cannot  help  but  be  im- 
pressed with  the  number  of  important  educational  advances 


DESIRABLE  EDUCATIONAL  REORGANIZATIONS    479 

which  had  their  origin  in  Massachusetts,  and  the  State  has 
also  been  a  leader  in  much  other  educational  legislation 
which  has  not  been  mentioned.  Though  small  in  size  and 
possessing  no  great  natural  resources,  and  for  the  past 
seventy-five  years  being  slowly  buried  under  a  constantly 
increasing  avalanche  of  foreign-born  peoples  who  have  cor- 
rupted her  politics,  diluted  her  citizenship,  and  often  de- 
stroyed the  charm  of  her  villages,  the  State  has  persisted  in 
a  constructive  educational  policy  which  has  been  in  large 
part  her  salvation.  Had  the  selection  of  leaders  for  her 
schools  been  left  to  politics,  it  is  hardly  probable  that  the 
results  would  have  been  the  same. 

Democracy's  need  for  leadership.  No  type  of  govern- 
ment has  such  need  for  trained  leadership  at  the  top  as  has 
a  democracy,  and  no  branch  of  the  public  service  in  a  de- 
mocracy is  fraught  with  greater  opportunities  for  construc- 
tive statesmanship  than  is  public  education.  By  it  the 
next  generation  is  moulded  and  the  hopes  and  aspirations 
and  ideals  of  the  next  generation  are  formed.  To  rise  above 
office  routine  to  the  higher  levels  of  constructive  statesman- 
ship is  not  easy,  and  calls  for  a  high  type  of  educational 
leader.  Yet  this  higher  level  of  leadership  is  what  a  state 
department  of  education  should  primarily  represent.  The 
improvement  of  society  and  the  advancement  of  the  public 
welfare  through  education  is  perhaps  the  greatest  business 
of  the  State.  A  state  board  of  education  to  determine  poli- 
cies and  select  leaders,  and  a  chief  state  school  officer  (state 
superintendent,  commissioner  of  education,  or  whatever 
title  he  may  be  given)  to  carry  policies  into  execution  and 
think  in  constructive  terms  for  the  schools,  should  be  the 
center  up  to  which  and  down  from  which  ideas  for  the  im- 
provement of  public  education  should  come. 

In  both  county  and  state  the  demand  to-day  is  for  intelli- 
gent professional  leadership,  that  our  people  may  receive 
greater  return  for  the  money  they  put  into  their  schools,  and 
that  the  children  in  them  may  receive  a  better-directed 
education  than  they  are  now  receiving.     The  important 


480  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

steps  in  the  process  of  securing  these  results  consist  in  fol- 
lowing the  lines  for  reorganization  which  have  been  set  forth 
in  this  chapter  —  namely,  changing  from  guess-work  to 
scientific  procedure;  the  reorganization  of  school  work  to 
secure  larger  opportunities  and  greater  effectiveness;  the 
reorganization  and  redirection  of  rural  and  village  as  well  as 
city  educational  procedure;  the  abolition  of  the  outgrown 
district  system  for  a  larger  administrative  unit;  the  elim- 
ination of  politics  and  popular  election  in  the  selection  of 
experts;  and  the  concentration  of  larger  authority  in  the 
hands  of  those  whose  business  it  is  to  guard  the  rights  and 
advance  the  educational  welfare  of  our  children. 

National  aid  and  oversight.  Up  to  the  close  of  the  Civil 
War  all  our  development  had  been  by  state  action,  except 
as  the  National  Government  had  given  land  to  the  States 
for  common  schools  and  for  a  seminary  of  learning,  and  in 
1862  had  endowed  with  national  land  a  college  of  agriculture 
and  mechanic  arts  in  each  State.  In  1866,  at  the  first  meet- 
ing of  the  new  National  Association  of  School  Superintend- 
ents, afterwards  the  Department  of  Superintendence  of 
the  National  Education  Association,  Mr.  E.  E.  White,  then 
State  Commissioner  of  Education  for  Ohio,  read  a  paper  on 
a  "National  Bureau  of  Education."  In  response  to  a  reso- 
lution then  adopted  Hon.  James  A.  Garfield,  then  a  Member 
of  Congress  from  Ohio,  introduced  and  sponsored  a  bill  in 
Congress  to  create  such  a  Bureau  "to  collect  statistics  and 
facts  concerning  the  condition  and  progress  of  education  in 
the  several  States  and  Territories,  and  to  diffuse  information 
respecting  the  organization  and  management  of  schools  and 
school  systems  and  methods  of  teaching."  Instead,  Con- 
gress, in  1867,  created  a  National  Department  of  Education, 
but  two  years  later  reduced  the  Department  to  the  rank  of  a 
Bureau  in  the  Interior  Department,  where  it  has  since  re- 
mained. Henry  Barnard  was  appointed  the  first  Commis- 
sioner, and  William  T.  Harris  held  the  office  for  seventeen 
years.  Along  the  lines  originally  indicated  the  Bureau  has 
rendered  important  service  to  the  States,  but  now  that  our 


DESIRABLE  EDUCATIONAL  REORGANIZATIONS    481 

educational  problems  have  assumed  so  many  national  as- 
pects a  Bureau  of  such  limited  scope  is  utterly  inadequate 
to  render  the  type  of  service  we  need  to-day. 

While  the  school  systems  which  we  have  gradually  de- 
veloped are  state  school  systems,  some  of  the  educational 
problems  with  which  we  have  recently  come  face  to  face  are 
too  large,  too  extensive  in  their  scope,  and  too  far-reaching 
in  their  consequences  to  permit  us  to  leave  them  longer  to 
the  States,  unaided,  to  solve.  State  action,  even  at  its  best, 
is  too  slow  and  too  uncertain,  while  some  of  our  most  press- 
ing problems  to-day  are  national  in  character  and  demand 
general  and  immediate  action.  The  World  War  has  brought 
forcibly  to  our  attention  some  of  our  most  serious  weak- 
nesses, and  the  need  for  early  and  general  action  stands  re- 
vealed. This  we  are  not  likely  to  get,  however,  unless  it  is 
action  by  the  Nation,  such  as  has  already  been  taken  for  the 
improvement  of  rural  home-life,  agriculture,  and  vocational 
education  —  action  which  will  stir  the  States  to  immediate 
movement  along  similar  lines,  and  under  national  guidance 
and  control. 

A  pressing  need  to-day  is  that  our  national  government 
shall  undertake  a  national  campaign  to  eliminate  some  of 
our  national  weaknesses  and  dangers.  We  must  resolutely 
set  to  work,  during  the  respite  from  the  immigrant  flood 
which  the  World  War  promises  for  a  time  to  give  us,  to 
Americanize  the  foreign-born  in  our  midst.  We  must  abolish 
illiteracy,  and  make  English  our  one  language.  A  thorough 
health  and  physical  education  program  should  be  instituted 
everywhere.  Continuation  schools  should  be  provided 
generally,  that  will  extend  at  least  part-time  voca- 
tional training  up  to  the  age  of  eighteen.  The  utter  inade- 
quacy of  our  present  scheme  for  rural  and  village  education 
stands  revealed  as  never  before,  and  the  rebuilding  and 
revitalizing  of  rural  education  is  too  large  an  undertaking  to 
be  made  less  than  a  national  movement.  The  salaries  paid 
teachers  are  inadequate,  as  is  also  the  training  for  teaching. 

To  meet  these  demands  in  any  truly  adequate  manner 


482  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

calls  for  national  aid,  national  supervision,  and  a  national 
program  of  work.  To  secure  this  we  need  to  transform,  as 
is  proposed  in  a  bill  now  (1919)  before  Congress,  our  Na- 
tional Bureau  of  Education  at  Washington  into  a  National 
Department  of  Education,  and  place  all  our  different  na- 
tional educational  efforts  and  aid  under  the  direction  of  this 
Department.  We  must  in  future  study  our  larger  educa- 
tional problems  from  a  national  point  of  view,  rather  than 
from  a  local  one;  we  must  extend  sufficient  national  aid  and 
direction  to  the  States  to  stimulate  them  to  activity;  and  we 
must  enable  them  to  cope  adequately  with  the  problems  at 
hand. 

QUESTIONS  FOR  DISCUSSION 

1.  Show  how  our  educational  thinking  has  been  colored  through  and 
through  by  the  new  social  and  industrial  forces  of  the  past  half -cen- 
tury. 

2.  Show  the  advantages  of  "type  studies"  in  teaching. 

3.  Show  how  the  "project"  could  be  made  useful  in  teaching. 

4.  What  do  you  understand  by  (a)  concentration,  (6)  correlation,  and 
(c)  pedagogical  interference? 

5.  Show  how  it  would  be  possible  to  organize  a  course  of  study  around 
activities,  as  at  Fairhope,  Alabama  (p.  446). 

6.  Show  how  the  new  standard  measures:  (a)  mean  ability  to  diagnose, 
(6)  give  a  basis  for  course  of  study  eliminations,  and  (c)  mean  more 
definite  work  in  instruction. 

7.  What  advantages  would  standardized  records  have  over  per  cents 
in  transferring  records  from  school  to  school? 

8.  How  could  a  series  of  student-records  be  made  useful  in  the  work  of 
vocational  guidance? 

9.  Show  how  the  introduction  of  standard  measures  means  as  great  an 
advance  in  instruction  as  did  the  introduction  of  the  conception  of 
an  orderly  psychological  development  in  the  sixties. 

10.  What  new  light  do  intelligence  measurements  throw  on  the  question 
of  differentiated  courses  of  study  and  schools,  as  set  forth  in  Chapter 
XII?  What  on  the  truancy  problem?  What  on  the  problem  of  the 
education  of  "peculiar  children"? 

11.  If  not  far  from  two  per  cent  of  our  children  are  of  very  low-grade 
intelligence,  have  we  as  yet  done  much  in  providing  special  class 
instruction?  4 

12.  Show  how  the  6  3-3  plan  provides  better  for  the  different  social 
and  intellectual  classes  of  children  in  our  schools  than  does  the  8-4 
plan. 


DESIRABLE  EDUCATIONAL  REORGANIZATIONS    483 

13.  Show  how,  with  the  6-3-3  plan,  it  could  be  made  possible  to  put  all 
children  of  fair  ability  through  the  ninth  grade  before  the  end  of  the 
compulsory  education  period. 

14.  Does  the  statement  of  President  Eliot  (p.  463)  appeal  to  you  as 
true? 

15.  Show  that  the  Flexner  modern-school  idea  means  as  fundamental  a 
reorganization  of  secondary  education  as  would  be  an  elementary- 
school  course  based  on  projects  and  activities. 

16.  Explain  how  the  Gary  plan  differs  from  ordinary  school  work. 

17.  Why  should  we  be  giving  so  much  consideration  to  educational  re- 
organization now,  whereas  before  1888  we  were  fairly  well  satisfied 
with  the  schools  we  had  evolved? 

18.  What  do  you  understand  by  the  rural-life  problem? 

19.  Show  why  the  rural  school  has  been  left  behind  in  the  educational 
progress  of  the  past  sixty  years. 

20.  What  do  you  understand  by  the  redirection  of  rural  education? 

21.  What  are  the  fundamental  needs  of  rural  education  to-day? 

22.  What  do  you  understand  to  be  meant  by  the  term  community-center 
rural  school? 

23.  Show  the  advantages  of  county-unit  organization  for  rural  education. 

24.  State  why  the  popular  election  of  experts  is  always  less  likely  to  pro- 
duce good  public  servants  than  is  selection  and  appointment. 

TOPICS  FOR  INVESTIGATION  AND  REPORT 

1.  The  use,  and  character,  and  results  of  Standard  Tests  in  any  elemen- 
tary-school subject. 

2.  Special  classes  for  the  training  of  those  of  low  intelligence. 

3.  The  organization  and  character  of  work  in  some  6-3-3  school  system. 

4.  The  Gary  school  system. 

5.  Typical  conditions  in  rural  education. 

6.  The  organization  and  work  of  some  good  rural  consolidated  school. 

7.  The  county-unit  school  systems  of  Maryland  or  Utah. 

8.  Fundamental  needs  in  rural  education. 

9.  The  preeminent  leadership,  in  our  educational  history,  of  the  State 
of  Massachusetts. 

10.  A  comparison  of  national  support  to  and  services  rendered  by  the 
National  Department  of  Agriculture  and  the  National  Bureau  of 
Education. 

SELECTED  REFERENCES 

Ayers,  L.  P.     "Economy  of  Time  through  testing  the  Course  of  Study"; 
in  Proceedings  of  the  National  Education  Association,  1913,  pp.  241-46. 

A  brief   bat  suggestive  article  dealing   with   the  possibility   of  applying  standards 
and  measurement*,  to  as  to  secure  a  more  economical  use  of  the  time  of  pupils. 


484  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

Bourne,  R.  S.    The  Gary  Schools.    200  pp.,  illustrated.  Houghton  Mifflin 

Co.,  Boston,  1916. 
A  well-rounded  description  of  the  organization  and  work  of  these  schools. 
*Bunker,  F.  F.     Reorganization  of  the  Public  School  System.     186  pp. 

United  States  Bureau  of  Education,  Bulletin  No.  8,  Washington,  1916. 

A  very  full  and  a  very  important  discussion  of  the  question.  Reviews  the  arguments 
and  describes  practices.  Chapters  VII  and  VIII  give  a  good  idea  of  the  changes  required, 
and  the  new  purposes  in  instruction. 

Burris,  W.  P.  The  Public  School  System  of  Gary,  Indiana.  United  States 
Bureau  of  Education,  Bulletin  No.  18,  Washington,  1914. 

A  good  and  easily  available  description,  giving  plans,  programs,  and  illustrations  of 
the  work  done. 

Cubberley,  E.  P.  Public  School  Administration.  479  pp.  Houghton 
Mifflin  Co.,  Boston,  1916. 

Chapter  XIX,  on  Efficiency  Experts  and  Testing  Results,  states  briefly  the  educa- 
tional significance  of  the  new  measuring  movement.  Part  III  sets  forth  the  lessons  to 
be  drawn  from  city  educational  experience,  and  the  need  for  educational  reorganization 
in  relation  to  the  office  of  state  and  county  superintendents  of  schools. 

*Cubberley,  E.  P.  "Desirable  Reorganizations  in  American  Education"; 
in  School  and  Society,  vol.  n,  pp.  397-402.     (Sept.,  1915.) 

Presents  briefly  the  desirable  administrative  reorganizations  needed.  A  condensa- 
tion of  Part  III  of  the  above  reference. 

Cubberley,  E.  P.  Rural  Life  and  Education.  367  pp.  Houghton  Mifflin 
Co.,  Boston,  1914. 

A  study  of  the  rural-school  problem,  as  a  phase  of  the  rural-life  problem,  tracing  the 
question  in  its  historical  development  and  describing  the  lines  of  its  solution. 

*Cubberley,  E.  P.  The  Improvement  of  Rural  Schools.  76  pp.  Houghton 
Mifflin  Co.,  Boston,  1912. 

A  brief  digest  of  the  main  ideas  contained  in  the  larger  volume  above.  Good  for 
supplementary  reading  for  this  chapter. 

♦Cubberley,  E.  P.,  and  Elliott,  E.  C.  "Rural  School  Administration";  in 
Proceedings  of  the  National  Education  Association,  1914,  pp.  244-50. 
Also  in  School  and  Society,  vol.  I,  pp.  154-61.     (Jan.  30,  1915.) 

A  concise  statement  of  the  problem  of  rural  educational  reorganization,  and  the  neces- 
sity for  certain  fundamental  changes. 

*Dewey,  John  and  Evelyn.  Schools  of  Tomorrow.  316  pp.  E.  P.  Dut- 
ton  &  Co.,  New  York,  1915. 

A  very  interesting  and  a  very  well-written  book,  describing  a  number  of  reorganization 
experiments  being  carried  out.  Chapter  II  describes  the  experiment  of  Mrs.  Johnson, 
at  Fair  hope,  Alabama;  Chapter  III  the  reorganized  elementary  school  at  the  University 
of  Missouri;  and  Chapters  VII  and  X  the  work  at  Gary,  Indiana. 

Eliot,  Chas.  W.  "Can  School  Programs  be  Shortened  and  Enriched?" 
in  Proceedings  of  the  National  Education  Association,  1888;  also  in  his 
Educational  Reform.     Century  Co.,  New  York,  1898. 

The  paper  which  started  the  discussion  as  to  educational  reorganization. 


DESIRABLE  EDUCATIONAL  REORGANIZATIONS    485 

Eliot,  Chas.  W.  " Shortening  and  Enriching  the  Grammar-School  Course"; 
in  Proceedings  of  the  National  Education  Association,  1892;  also  in  his 
Educational  Reform.    Century  Co.,  New  York,  1898. 
The  second  paper  in  the  reorganization  discussion. 
Eliot,  Chas.  W.     Changes  needed  in  American  Secondary  Education.     29 
pp.     General  Education  Board,  Occasional  Papers,  No.  2,  New  York, 
1916. 
Sets  forth  the  needed  changes  in  high-school  work. 

*Flexner,  Abraham.  A  Modem  School.  23  pp.  General  Education  Board, 
Occasional  Papers,  No.  3,  New  York,  1917. 

Outlines  the  modern  school  mentioned  in  the  text.  A  constructive  sequel  to  the  pre- 
ceding. 

*Hardy,  Edw.  L.  "The  Reorganization  of  our  Educational  System";  in 
School  and  Society,  vol.  v,  pp.  728-32.     (June  23,  1917.) 

Proposes  a  new  4-4-4-4  plan  for  a  still  more  psychological  reorganization  of  American 
education.     A  very  able  and  thought-provoking  paper. 

Jessup,  W.  A.  "Economy  of  Time  in  Arithmetic";  in  Proceedings  of  the 
National  Education  Association,  1914,  pp.  209-22. 

A  good  type  of  a  number  of  studies  on  economy  of  time  in  teaching. 

Johnson,  Chas.  H.  "The  Social  Significance  of  Various  Movements  for 
Industrial  Education";  in  Educational  Review,  vol.  37,  pp.  160-80. 
(Feb.,  1909.) 

A  very  able  article,  showing  the  comparative  position  of  the  United  States  in  iuch 
development. 

*Judd,  Chas.  H.  Measuring  the  Work  of  the  Public  Schools.  290  pp. 
Cleveland  Education  Survey,  1916. 

An  excellent  volume,  showing  standard  measures  applied  as  a  means  of  educational 
diagnosis  to  both  elementary  and  high  schools  in  a  large  city-school  system. 

♦Monroe,  W.  S.,  DeVoss,  J.  C,  and  Kelly,  F.  J.  Educational  Tests  and 
Measurements.    309  pp.  Houghton  Mifflin  Co.,  Boston,  1917. 

The  standard  guide  to  the  use  of  the  standard  tests,  and  an  explanation  of  the  meaning 
of  the  results  obtained. 

*Monroe,  Walter  S.  Measuring  the  Results  of  Teaching.  297  pp.  Hough- 
ton Mifflin  Co.,  Boston,  1918. 

An  excellent  guide  on  the  use  and  significance  of  the  standard  tests  as  applied  to  the 
measurement  of  teaching.  A  simplification  and  expansion  of  the  above  book.  Written 
for  the  use  of  the  grade  teacher. 

National  Society.  Minimum  Essentials  in  Elementary  School  Subjects. 
Year-Books  of  the  National  Society  for  the  Study  of  Education.  1st 
Report,  152  pp.  Fourteenth  Year-Book,  Part  I,  1915.  2d  Report,  192 
pp.    Sixteenth  Year-Book,  Part  i,  1917. 

Two  rather  long  reports,  dealing  with  the  reduction  of  the  subject-matter  of  instruction 
in  the  common-school  subjects. 


486  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

National  Society.  Report  of  the  Committee  on  Economy  of  Time  in  Edu- 
cation. Year-Books  of  the  National  Society  for  the  Study  of  Education. 
3d  Report.  Seventeenth  Year-Book,  Part  I,  1918.  4th  Report,  123  pp. 
Eighteenth  Year-Book,  Part  n,  1919. 

Two  additional  reports  of  the  Committee,  dealing  with  minimum  essentials,  purposes 
in  instruction,  and  methods  of  work. 

National  Society.  Standards  and  Tests  for  the  Measurement  of  the  Effi- 
ciency of  Schools  and  School  Systems.  160  pp.  Fifteenth  Year-Book 
of  the  National  Society  for  the  Study  of  Education,  Part  i,  1916. 

Contains  fifteen  addresses  on  standard  scales,  and  their  applications  to  school  work. 

*Russell,  Will.  Economy  in  Secondary  Education.  74  pp.  Houghton 
Mifflin  Co.,  Boston,  1916. 

A  splendid  brief  presentation  of  possible  lines  along  which  economy  of  time  may  be  had 

Snedden,  D.  S.  "The  High  School  of  Tomorrow";  in  School  Review, 
vol.  25,  pp.  1-15.     (Jan.,  1917.) 

An  interesting  and  suggestive  article  on  the  high  school  of  1925. 

Terman,  L.  M.  The  Measurement  of  Intelligence.  362  pp.  Houghton 
Mifflin  Co.,  Boston,  1916. 

Part  I  gives  a  simple  explanation  of  the  measurements,  and  points  out  their  educa- 
tional significance.    Part  II  describes  the  measurements  and  explains  how  to  give  them. 

Terman,  L.  M.  The  Intelligence  of  School  Children.  Houghton  Mifflin 
Co.,  Boston.,  1919. 

A  very  readable  and  valuable  account  of  the  results  and  significance  of  mental  meas- 
urements.   Written  for  the  grade  teacher. 

♦Wells,  Dora.     "The  Lucy  Flower  Technical  High  School";  in  School 
Review,  vol.  22,  pp.  611-19. 
A  very  interesting  description  of  a  large  technical  school  for  girls. 


CHAPTER  XV 

FUNDAMENTAL  PRINCIPLES  AND  PROBLEMS 

I.  Fundamental  Principles  established 

The  national  system  evolved.  In  the  chapters  preceding 
this  one  we  have  traced,  in  some  detail,  the  evolution  of  our 
American  public  schools  from  the  days  of  their  infancy  to 
the  present,  and  have  shown  the  connection  between  our 
more  pressing  present-day  problems  and  our  evolution  dur- 
ing the  past.  Starting  with  a  few  little  church  school  sys- 
tems, founded  as  an  outgrowth  of  Reformation  fervor  and 
convictions,  we  have,  in  the  course  of  nearly  three  centuries 
of  educational  evolution,  gradually  transformed  the  school 
from  an  instrument  of  the  church  to  a  civil  institution,  and 
have  built  up  what  are  in  effect  forty-eight  different  state 
school  systems.  While  these  vary  somewhat  in  their  form 
of  organization  and  the  scope  of  the  system  provided,  they 
nevertheless  have  so  much  in  common,  are  actuated  by  so 
many  of  the  same  national  purposes,  and  follow  so  closely 
the  same  guiding  principles,  that  we  may  easily  say  that  we 
have  evolved  what  is  in  spirit,  if  not  in  legal  form,  a  national 
system  of  public  education.  This  we  feel,  due  to  the  thor- 
oughly native  character  of  the  evolution  which  has  taken 
place,  is  reasonably  well  suited  to  the  needs  of  a  great  demo- 
cratic society  such  as  our  own. 

In  the  course  of  this  long  evolution,  despite  much  conflict 
and  irregular  development  in  different  parts  of  our  country, 
we  have  at  last  come  to  a  somewhat  general  acceptance  of 
certain  fundamental  principles  of  action.  These  may  now 
be  said  to  have  become  fixed,  not  only  in  our  traditions  but 
in  our  laws  and  court  decisions  as  well,  and  to  represent  the 
foundations  upon  which  our  public  educational  systems 
rest.     In  this  final  chapter  it  may  be  well  to  review  briefly 


488         EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

some  of  the  more  important  of  these  guiding  principles 
before  taking  up  the  problems  which  lie  just  ahead. 

The  essential  nature  of  education.  To  the  enthusiasts  of 
the  Protestant  Reformation  we  owe  the  idea  that  the  educa- 
tion of  all  is  essential  to  the  well-being  of  the  State;  that  it  is 
the  duty  of  each  parent  to  educate  his  child;  and  that  the 
State  may  enforce  this  duty  by  appropriate  legislation. 
First  conceived  of  wholly  for  the  welfare  of  the  religious 
State,  and  so  enforced  in  the  Massachusetts  Laws  of  1642 
and  1647,  in  the  church-period  legislation  of  the  central  colo- 
nies, and  somewhat  in  the  apprenticeship  legislation  of  the 
southern  colonies,  the  idea  of  the  right  of  the  State  to  enforce 
education  to  advance  the  welfare  of  the  State  in  time  became 
a  fixed  idea  in  the  New  England  colonies,  Rhode  Island  ex- 
cepted, and  from  there  was  gradually  spread,  by  the  migra- 
tion of  New  England  people,  all  over  the  northeastern  quar- 
ter of  the  United  States.  Becoming  firmly  established  there 
by  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century,  the  idea  spread, 
in  the  course  of  time,  over  the  entire  Union,  and  is  now  an 
accepted  principle  of  action  in  all  our  American  States. 

In  establishing  schools  of  its  own  to  enforce  the  obligation 
of  education,  the  State  has  done  so,  not  so  much  because  it 
can  educate  better  than  can  parents,  though  in  most  cases 
this  is  true,  but  because  by  itself  taking  charge  of  the  con- 
duct of  schools  the  State  can  enforce  better  the  obligation 
it  imposes  that  each  child  shall  be  educated.  Neither  does 
the  State  establish  schools  because  by  state  cooperative 
effort  they  can  be  established  and  conducted  more  economi- 
cally than  by  private  agencies,  but  rather  that  by  so  doing  it 
may  better  exercise  the  State's  inherent  right  to  enforce  a 
type  of  education  looking  specifically  to  the  preservation 
and  improvement  of  the  State.  With  the  passage  of  time, 
the  growth  of  our  Nation,  and  the  extension  of  the  suffrage 
to  more  and  more  diverse  elements  in  our  population,  we 
have  come  to  see  clearly  that  an  uneducated  citizenship  is  a 
public  peril,  and  to  insist  more  strongly  than  before  on  the 
exercise  of  this  fundamental  right  of  the  State.    A  natural 


FUNDAMENTAL  PRINCIPLES  AND  PROBLEMS    489 

corollary  of  this  right  to  require  education  for  the  protec- 
tion and  improvement  of  the  State  is  the  right  of  the  State 
to  provide  inspection  to  see  that  the  obligation  the  State 
imposes  is  being  fulfilled,  and  supervision  to  lead  to  the 
improvement  of  what  is  being  done. 

The  right  to  tax  to  maintain.  The  provision  of  schools  to 
enforce  the  obligation  imposed  by  the  State,  though,  re- 
quires money,  and  the  better  the  schools  provided  the  more 
they  are  likely  to  cost.  Even  state  supervision  of  education, 
were  the  provision  of  schools  left  entirely  to  private  or  reli- 
gious initiative,  also  would  cost  something.  This  cost  must 
be  defrayed  from  public  funds,  and  these  must  come  from 
individual,  group,  or  general  taxation. 

Just  how  schools  should  be  supported  must  be  determined 
by  a  consideration  as  to  their  nature.  If  they  are  only  or 
largely  of  personal  or  local  benefit,  such  as  telephone  service, 
street-lighting,  pavements,  or  streets,  then  they  should  be 
supported  by  individual  or  local  taxation.  Being  conceived, 
though,  as  essential  to  the  welfare  of  the  State  as  a  whole, 
then  their  support  should  be  by  the  general  taxation  of  all, 
and  not  from  taxes  or  f ees'paid  by  the  parents  of  the  children 
educated.  The  establishment  of  this  principle,  that  the 
wealth  of  the  State  must  educate  the  children  of  the  State, 
required  time  and  effort,  for  it  virtually  meant  the  confisca- 
tion of  a  portion  of  the  fruits  of  the  labor  of  all  men,  and  in 
proportion  as  they  by  hard  labor  and  thrift  had  been  able  to 
accumulate  a  surplus,  and  the  use  of  the  part  so  confiscated 
to  educate  the  children  of  the  State,  regardless  of  whether 
or  not  the  particular  parents  of  the  children  educated  had 
any  surplus  wealth  to  be  so  confiscated. 

This  is  an  essential  state  service  to  which  all  owners  of 
property  must  be  subject,  and  no  man  can  expect  to  escape 
his  share  for  support  by  sending  his  children  to  a  private  or 
parochial  school.  This  of  course  he  is  free  to  do,  as  we  have 
so  far  in  our  history  not  seen  any  reason  for  limiting  this 
ri^ht  of  choice,  but  the  exercise  of  such  freedom  and  choice 
cannot  be  expected  to  relieve  him  of  his  proper  share  for  the 


490  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

support  of  so  essential  a  state  service  as  public  education. 
Equally  might  he  claim  exemption  from  taxation  for  the 
maintenance  of  police  because  he  is  a  law-abiding  citizen, 
from  the  support  of  the  fire  department  because  he  has  built 
his  house  of  concrete,  and  from  taxation  to  purchase  and 
maintain  parks  because  he  has  attractive  grounds  around 
his  home  and  does  not  visit  the  parks  maintained  by  the 
public. 

How  far  the  State  may  go.  How  far  the  State  may  go  in 
levying  taxation  to  provide  general  educational  advantages 
is  another  matter  which  we  have  decided  shall  be  left  to  the 
State  to  determine.  Our  government  is  a  government  by 
majority  rule,  and  we  have  gradually  established  it  as  a 
principle  of  public  policy  that  what  the  majority,  acting 
through  its  accredited  representatives,  once  decide  to  be  for 
the  public  welfare,  can  be  ordered  and  provided.  When  this 
involves  new  lines  of  action  not  only  new  laws,  but  at  times 
amendments  to  the  constitution  of  the  State  are  necessary, 
but,  once  a  clear  majority  has  decided  that  something  in  the 
interest  of  the  public  welfare  should  or  should  not  be  done, 
it  is  not  difficult  to  alter  whatever  laws  or  constitutional 
provisions  stand  in  the  way.  When  this  has  been  done  the 
courts  have  uniformly  decided  that  the  will  of  the  majority, 
so  registered,  shall  prevail.  The  early  school  taxation  laws, 
the  laws  for  the  extension  of  the  high  school,  the  provision  of 
state  normal  schools,  the  first  compulsory  attendance  laws, 
free  textbook  laws,  laws  for  medical  inspection  and  health 
supervision,  —  these  and  others  have  been  tested  in  and 
upheld  by  the  courts. 

So  it  may  be  safely  asserted  to  have  become  an  estab- 
lished principle  of  our  American  educational  policy  that  the 
State  may  provide,  or  order  provided,  if  it  deems  that  the 
welfare  of  the  State  will  be  better  preserved  or  advanced, 
whatever  form  of  educational  effort,  type  of  school,  aspect  of 
inspection  or  instruction,  or  extension  of  education  may  to 
it  seem  wise  to  add.  The  needs  of  our  democracy  are  alone 
the  test,  and  these  needs  are  to  be  determined  by  majority 


FUNDAMENTAL  PRINCIPLES  AND  PROBLEMS    491 

action  and  in  the  majority  interest,  and  not  imposed  by  the 
rule  or  to  meet  the  needs  of  a  class. 

There  is  every  reason  to  feel  that  this  fundamental  princi- 
ple of  action  has  not  as  yet  in  any  way  reached  the  limits  of 
its  application,  but  rather  that  the  future  is  almost  certain 
to  see  a  great  extension  of  educational  advantages  into  new 
directions  to  meet  the  needs  of  classes  of  our  people  not  now 
adequately  provided  for.  In  the  fields  of  night  schools,  va- 
cation schools,  play-grounds  and  directed  play,  community- 
center  activities,  adult  education,  public  music,  civic-welfare 
education,  health  supervision,  child  welfare,  school  and  uni- 
versity extension,  and  vocational  guidance,  to  mention  a  few 
of  the  more  certain  directions  of  future  state  educational 
activity,  we  are  almost  sure  to  see  marked  extensions  of  the 
right  of  the  State,  in  the  interests  of  the  welfare  of  the  State, 
exercised  to  provide  or  to  order  provided. 

Schools  to  afford  equal  opportunity.  Another  principle 
which  we  have  firmly  established  in  our  educational  policy 
is  that  the  schools  provided  shall  afford  not  only  equal  op- 
portunity for  all  in  any  one  class  or  division  of  the  school, 
but  also  that  full  opportunity  for  promising  youths  to  rise 
shall  be  offered  by  the  State,  and  that  this  opportunity,  as 
well,  shall  be  equally  free  and  open  to  all.  In  other  words, 
we  decided  early,  and  as  a  part  of  the  great  democratic 
movement  in  the  early  part  of  the  nineteenth  century,  that 
we  would  institute  a  thoroughly  democratic  school  system, 
and  not  in  any  way  copy  the  aristocratic  and  monarchical 
two-class  school  systems  of  European  States.  Accordingly 
we  early  provided  in  our  state  constitutions  and  in  our  laws 
for  free  public  schools,  equally  open  to  all.  As  soon  as  pos- 
sible we  abolished  the  rate-bill  and  the  fuel  tax,  extended 
the  free-school  term,  and  provided  free  school  supplies.  We 
replaced  the  tuition  academy  with  the  free  public  high 
school,  and  superimposed  it  onto  the  common  school  we 
had  developed  to  form  an  educational  ladder  which  ambi- 
tious youths  might  climb.  On  top  of  the  high  school  we 
superimposed  the  state  college  and  university,  similarly 


492  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

tuition  free.  We  freed  the  schools  from  the  pauper  taint, 
and  opened  the  same  or  equivalent  opportunities  to  girls  as 
well  as  boys.  To  make  the  school  as  common  in  its  advan- 
tages as  possible  we  also  early  eliminated  all  trace  of  sec- 
tarian control. 

As  a  result  we  have  to-day,  in  each  of  our  American 
States,  a  school  system  free,  non-sectarian,  and  equally  open 
to  all  children  of  the  State,  and  which  any  child  may  attend, 
at  the  expense  of  the  State,  as  long  as  he  can  profitably  par- 
take of  the  educational  advantages  provided.  To  reach  an 
increasing  number  of  the  State's  children,  and  to  retain 
them  longer  in  school,  the  State  is  continually  broadening 
its  educational  system  by  adding  new  schools  and  new  types 
of  education,  so  that  more  may  find  in  the  schools  educa- 
tional advantages  suited  to  their  life  needs.  In  this  way 
we  widen  the  educational  pyramid  by  increasing  the  oppor- 
tunities for  more  and  more  to  rise,  and  thus  secure  a  more 
intelligent  and  a  more  enlightened  democracy.  Under  an 
autocratic  form  of  government  this  would  not  be  desirable, 
but  in  a  democracy  it  is  a  prime  necessity. 

State  may  compel  attendance.  The  State,  having  ad- 
judged the  provision  of  education  to  be  a  public  necessity, 
to  preserve  and  advance  the  welfare  of  the  State,  the  natu- 
ral corollary  of  such  a  position  is  the  right  of  the  State  to 
compel  children  to  attend  and  to  partake  of  the  educational 
advantages  which  have  been  provided.  The  State  may  also 
compel  their  parents,  by  severe  penalties  if  need  be,  to  see 
that  their  children  come  to  school  for  the  period  adjudged 
by  the  State  as  the  minimum  term  and  minimum  number  of 
years  to  be  accepted.  We  came  to  this  position  slowly  and 
hesitantly,  but  to-day  we  may  be  said  to  have  arrived  at  the 
point  where  we  hold  it  the  right  of  the  State  to  compel  each 
child  to  attend  school  every  day  the  schools  are  in  session 
and  he  is  able  to  attend,  and  for  a  period  extending  up  to  at 
least  fourteen  years  of  age,  with  every  probability  that  in  the 
near  future  it  will  be  extended  up  to  sixteen.  Having  con- 
ceived a  common  school  education,  at  least,  to  be  the  birth- 


FUNDAMENTAL  PRINCIPLES  AND  PROBLEMS    493 

right  of  every  American  boy  and  girl,  the  State  has  finally 
stepped  in  to  see  that  the  children  of  the  State  are  not  pre- 
vented from  obtaining  their  birthright.  Nor  can  the  State 
admit  the  needs  of  the  parents  for  the  labor  of  their  children 
as  an  excuse  for  non-attendance,  though  the  rejection  of  such 
a  plea  involves  obligations  on  the  part  of  the  State  to  pro- 
vide, in  the  form  of  poor-relief,  the  earnings  of  which  the 
State  by  the  exercise  of  compulsion  deprives  the  parent. 

The  State  may  set  standards.  Any  conception  of  the 
State  as  an  educational  agent,  interested  in  seeing  that 
schools  are  provided  to  preserve  itself  and  to  advance  its 
welfare,  naturally  involves  the  right  of  the  State  to  fix  the 
minimum  standards  below  which  it  will  not  allow  any  com- 
munity or  private  or  parochial  school  to  fall.  While  either 
too  much  liberty  or  too  much  state  oversight  may  result  in 
weakness  in  the  local  school  systems  maintained,  some  state 
oversight  and  control  must  be  exercised  if  strength  is  to  be 
developed.  In  all  such  matters  as  types  of  schools  and 
classes  which  must  be  maintained;  the  language  in  which  the 
instruction  is  given;  length  of  term  to  be  provided;  the  care 
of  children  which  must  be  exercised;  the  hygienic  conditions; 
and  the  minimum  rate  of  tax  for  schools  which  must  be 
raised  locally,  it  is  essentially  the  business  of  the  State  to  fix 
the  minimum  types,  lengths,  and  amounts  which  will  be 
permitted,  and  through  the  exercise  of  state  inspection  and 
state  penalties  to  enforce  these  minimum  demands.  This 
we  have  clearly  settled  both  as  a  right  and  a  duty  in  our 
laws  and  our  court  decisions.  It  is  also  the  right,  as  well  as 
the  duty  of  the  State,  to  raise  these  minima  from  time  to 
time,  as  changing  conditions  and  new  educational  needs  may 
seem  to  require  or  as  the  increasing  wealth  of  the  State  will 
permit,  and  without  waiting  until  all  communities  are  able 
to  make  such  advances.  To  do  this  will  often  involve 
reciprocal  obligations  on  the  part  of  the  State,  but  these  the 
State  must  expect  and  be  prepared  to  meet. 

Carrying  the  idea  still  further,  we  have  also  come  to  ac- 
cept as  an  established  principle  that  it  should  be  the  business 


494  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

of  the  State  to  formulate  and  carry  out  a  constructive  edu- 
cational policy  for  the  advancement  of  the  welfare  of  the 
State  by  means  of  public  education.  Instead  of  being  a 
passive  tax-gatherer,  distributor  of  funds,  and  lawgiver,  the 
State,  if  it  is  to  meet  the  educational  problems  of  a  modern 
world,  must  become  an  active,  energetic  agent,  working  for 
the  moral,  social,  hygienic,  industrial,  and  intellectual  ad- 
vancement of  its  people.  The  formulation  of  minimum  stand- 
ards from  time  to  time,  the  protection  of  these  standards  from 
being  lowered  by  any  private  or  sectarian  agency,  and  the 
stimulation  of  communities  within  the  State  to  additional 
educational  activity,  these  have  now  come  to  be  accepted 
both  as  fundamental  rights  and  duties  of  the  State. 

Public  education  not  exclusive.  Unlike  France,  we  have 
never  been  driven  to  the  necessity  of  making  public  educa- 
tion exclusive.  Instead,  we  have  felt  that  the  competition 
of  private  and  parochial  schools,  if  better  than  the  public 
schools,  is  good  for  the  public  schools.  Especially  in  the 
line  of  higher  education  have  we  profited  by  allowing  the 
freest  competition  between  the  privately  endowed  colleges 
and  the  state  universities.  As  a  result  such  privately  en- 
dowed institutions  as  Harvard,  Yale,  Columbia,  Princeton, 
Johns  Hopkins,  Tulane,  Chicago,  and  Stanford  have  fallen 
in  whole-heartedly  with  our  state  and  national  purposes 
and  have  become  really  national  universities. 

On  the  other  hand,  our  States  have  not  as  yet  exercised 
their  accepted  rights  of  supervision,  and  often  have  allowed 
a  competition  from  private  and  religious  schools  which  was 
not  warranted  by  any  ideas  of  state  welfare.  In  a  few  of  our 
American  States  this  situation  has  recently  been  taken  in 
hand,  and  standards  have  been  established  which  are  clearly 
within  the  right  of  the  State  to  establish.  These  involve 
the  requirement  of  instruction  in  the  English  language,  the 
provision  of  schools  at  least  as  good  as  the  public  schools 
of  the  same  community,  and  full  cooperation  with  the  public 
school  authorities  in  such  matters  as  compulsory  school 
attendance  and  statistical  reports.     These  are  legitimate 


FUNDAMENTAL  PRINCIPLES  AND  PROBLEMS    495 

demands  of  the  State;  they  have  been  upheld  by  our  courts, 
and  they  should  everywhere  be  enforced  by  our  American 
Commonwealths. 

The  present  conviction  of  our  people.  Slowly  but  cer- 
tainly public  education  has  been  established  as  a  great 
state,  one  might  almost  say,  a  great  national,  interest  of  the 
American  people.  They  have  conceived  the  education  of 
all  as  essential  to  the  well-being  of  the  State,  and  have  estab- 
lished state  systems  of  public  education  to  enforce  the  idea. 
The  principle  that  the  wealth  of  the  State  must  educate 
the  children  of  the  State  has  been  firmly  established.  The 
schools  have  been  made  free  and  equally  open  to  all;  educa- 
tion has  been  changed  from  a  charity  to  a  birthright;  and  a 
thoroughly  democratic  educational  ladder  has  everywhere 
been  provided.  The  corollary  to  free  education,  in  the  form 
of  compulsion  to  attend,  is  now  beginning  to  be  systemati- 
cally enforced.  The  school  term  has  been  lengthened,  the 
instruction  greatly  enriched,  new  types  of  classes  and  schools 
provided,  and  new  extensions  of  educational  opportunity 
begun. 

As  a  result  of  our  long  evolution  we  have  finally  developed 
a  thoroughly  native  series  of  American  state  school  systems, 
bound  together  by  one  common  purpose,  guided  by  the  same 
set  of  established  principles,  and  working  for  the  same  na- 
tional ends.  In  consequence  it  may  now  be  regarded  as  a 
settled  conviction  of  our  American  people  that  the  provision 
of  a  liberal  system  of  free  non-sectarian  public  schools,  in 
which  equal  opportunity  is  provided  for  all,  even  though 
many  different  types  of  schools  may  be  needed,  is  not  only 
an  inescapable  obligation  of  our  States  to  their  future  citi- 
zens, but  also  that  nothing  which  the  State  does  for  its 
people  contributes  so  much  to. the  moral  uplift,  to  a  higher 
virtue,  and  to  increased  economic  returns  to  the  State 
as  does  a  generous  system  of  free  public  schools. 


496  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

II.  Education  as  a  Constructive  Tool 

Our  characteristic  native  development.  We  have  evolved 
these  fundamental  principles  of  action,  as  has  been  said,  only 
after  long  public  discussion  and  conflict.  Time  was  re- 
quired to  set  forth  the  arguments  and  convince  a  majority 
of  our  people  as  to  the  desirability  of  accepting  them,  and 
still  more  time  to  permit  the  necessary  extension  from  an 
acceptance  in  principle  to  an  acceptance  in  reality.  Still 
more,  after  their  acceptance  in  a  few  States  or  a  section  of 
the  Union,  more  time  was  required  to  permit  the  spread  and 
general  acceptance  of  the  ideas  by  our  people  as  a  whole. 
As  a  result  we  have  made  progress  but  slowly  and  irregu- 
larly, and  often  a  generation  has  been  required  to  familiarize 
ourselves  with  and  accept  some  new  idea  which  has  been  a 
demonstrated  success  in  other  States  or  other  lands. 

Our  educational  development,  as  a  result,  has  been  slow 
and  thoroughly  native,  and  ideas  reaching  us  from  abroad 
have  been  carefully  examined,  questioned,  tried,  worked 
over,  and  adapted  to  our  conditions  before  they  have  met 
with  any  general  acceptance  among  our  people.  Conse- 
quently our  American  school  systems  are  thoroughly  "of 
the  people,  for  the  people,  and  by  the  people."  This  is  both 
their  strength  and  their  weakness.  They  are  thoroughly 
democratic  in  spirit  and  thoroughly  representative  of  the 
best  in  our  American  development,  but  they  also  represent 
largely  average  opinion  as  to  what  ought  to  be  accomplished 
and  how  things  ought  to  be  done.  There  are  many  improve- 
ments which  ought  to  be  carried  out  without  delay,  and 
which  if  made  would  add  greatly  to  the  effectiveness  of  our 
schools  and  consequently  to  our  national  strength,  but  which 
we  shall  probably  have  to  wait  for  until  a  new  generation 
arises,  and  achieve  then  only  after  a  long  process  of  popular 
agitation  and  discussion  in  which  those  in  favor  of  the 
changes  have  out-argued  those  opposed. 

National  initiative  without  responsibility.  The  same 
"  show  me  "  spirit  which  has  characterized  our  slow  educa- 


FUNDAMENTAL  PRINCIPLES  AND  PROBLEMS    497 

tional  development  has  also  characterized  our  instruction. 
We  have  thrown  both  teachers  and  pupils  largely  on  their 
own  resources,  with  the  result  that  either  the  instruction  has 
been  very  poor  or  both  teachers  and  pupils  have  made  marked 
development  in  initiative  and  in  ability  to  care  for  them- 
selves. The  most  prominent  characteristic  of  many  of  our 
schools  has  been  the  former,  but  the  latter  has  characterized 
so  many  schools,  and  so  thoroughly  characterizes  our  private 
and  public  life,  that  as  a  Nation  we  have  gained  a  world- 
wide reputation  for  initiative  and  imagination  and  the  abil- 
ity to  carry  through  successfully  large  undertakings.  Liv- 
ing under  a  form  of  government  which  has  given  us  large 
freedom  both  to  commit  mistakes  or  to  make  successes,  not 
afflicted  by  a  bureaucratic  government  which  has  imposed  a 
uniformity  destructive  of  initiative,  with  plenty  of  elbow- 
room  for  the  man  possessing  ideas  and  energy,  always  willing 
to  learn,  thoroughly  democratic  in  spirit,  possessed  of  large 
common  sense,  able  to  see  means  and  ends  and  how  to  relate 
the  two,  and  willing  to  follow  the  leadership  of  any  one  of 
ideas  and  force  or  to  lead  ourselves,  we  have  developed  inde- 
pendence of  action  as  a  national  characteristic.  In  no  other 
country  have  the  results  of  national  attitudes,  national 
training,  and  national  restraint  or  freedom  shown  to  better 
advantage  in  the  general  intelligence,  poise,  good  judgment, 
moral  strength,  individual  initiative,  and  productive  capac- 
ity of  a  people  than  with  us. 

These  characteristics  have  carried  us  along  very  well  up  to 
recent  times,  and  all  that  is  valuable  in  them  we  ought  to 
retain.  Certainly  the  splendid  initiative  of  our  youth,  never 
shown  to  better  advantage  than  during  the  participation  of 
this  Nation  in  the  recent  World  War,  is  something  which  we 
cannot  afford  to  lose.  We  have,  however,  lacked  somewhat 
in  state  and  national  effectiveness  because  we  exercise  our 
initiative  in  such  an  individual  manner.  It  has  been  largely 
a  case  of  each  fellow  for  himself,  and  only  in  cases  of  national 
emergency  or  danger  have  we  cooperated  well.  The  virtue 
which  we  now  need  to  develop  to  supplement  this  splendid 


498  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

national  trait  is  a  stronger  sense  of  intelligent  responsibil- 
ity for  the  common  welfare,  as  expressed  in  some  form  of 
self-imposed  democratic  discipline.  Our  most  prominent 
characteristic  has  been  a  democratic  independence  and  the 
ability  to  take  care  of  ourselves.  The  most  prominent  char- 
acteristic of  the  German  boy,  on  the  other  hand,  has  been  a 
blind  obedience  to  the  authority  of  the  State.  In  between 
the  two  the  English  and  French  boys  have  preserved  their 
initiative  and  at  the  same  time  learned  to  respect  authority 
and  to  shoulder  responsibility,  and  the  results  of  this  training 
were  well  brought  out  in  the  recent  World  War.  The  Amer- 
ican boy  showed  splendid  initiative  and  daring,  but  was  res- 
tive under  discipline;  the  German  boy  lacked  individual 
initiative  when  forced  to  take  care  of  himself,  but  did  well 
what  he  was  told  to  do;  the  French  and  English  boys  exhib- 
ited, in  a  high  degree,  both  initiative  and  an  intelligent  sen- 
sitiveness to  leadership  which  contributed  much  to  the  suc- 
cess of  their  common  cause. 

Probably  one  of  our  greatest  future  educational  problems 
is  that  of  striving  to  increase  our  governmental  effectiveness 
on  the  one  hand  and  individual  responsibility  for  good  gov- 
ernment on  the  other,  while  at  the  same  time  retaining  our 
democratic  life  and  that  training  which  develops  initiative, 
force,  and  foresight.  Just  where  the  division  between  per- 
sonal initiative  and  national  discipline  is  to  be  drawn  is  a 
question  that  must  be  determined  somewhat  by  the  demands 
made  by  the  welfare  of  the  State.  If  good  citizenship  is  the 
fundamental  problem,  then  a  large  place  must  be  found  for 
individual  initiative,  and  much  must  be  left  to  self-imposed 
control.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  the  safety  of  the  State  is  the 
important  consideration,  then  imposed  discipline  must  take 
precedence  over  individual  initiative  and  liberty  of  action. 
Though  we  now  face  no  great  danger  from  the  outside  which 
seems  to  imperil  the  safety  of  the  State,  still,  since  the  wel- 
fare of  any  State  must  depend  both  on  civil  order  and  secur- 
ity, education  in  a  democracy  must  of  necessity  combine 
both  liberty  of  action  and  self-imposed  discipline. 


FUNDAMENTAL  PRINCIPLES  AND  PROBLEMS    499 

Why  our  educational  problem  is  difficult.  Contrasted 
with  a  highly  organized  nation,  such  as  Germany  was  before 
she  attacked  civilization  and  plunged  the  world  into  war, 
we  seem  feeble  in  our  ability  to  organize  and  push  forward  a 
constructive  national  program  for  development  and  prog- 
ress. There  the  State  was  highly  organized;  the  people 
homogeneous;  the  officials  well  educated,  and  selected  by 
careful  service  tests;  national  policies  were  painstakingly 
thought  out  and  promulgated;  the  schools  were  effectively 
organized  into  uniformly  good  institutions  for  the  advance- 
ment of  the  national  interests;  the  teachers  were  carefully 
trained  in  state  institutions,  and  made  into  parts  of  a  na- 
tional army  expected  to  follow  the  flag  loyally;  the  Church 
was  nationalized,  and  in  part  supported  by  the  Govern- 
ment; religion  was  taught  in  all  schools,  and  the  weight  of 
religion  and  the  backing  of  the  priesthood  were  used  to  sup- 
port the  State;  and  a  great  national  army  was  maintained 
and  used  as  an  educative  force  for  nationalizing  all  elements 
and  training  the  people  in  obedience  and  respect  for  law  and 
order. 

With  us,  on  the  other  hand,  we  have  only  our  schools. 
Our  government  is  what  the  people  want  it  to  be  —  good, 
bad,  or  indifferent.  While  in  a  monarchy  the  ruling  govern- 
ment may  be  much  better  than  the  people  could  provide  for 
themselves,  in  a  democracy  this  can  never  be.  The  thinking 
men  and  students  of  fundamental  questions  in  any  form  of 
government  are  relatively  few.  In  a  monarchy  these  are 
«lly  selected  to  rule;  in  a  democracy  they  constitute  a 
minority  seldom  selected  for  office  and  often  possessing  but 
little  power  to  mould  majority  opinion.  Even  in  our  uni- 
versities professors  work  with  a  view  to  improving  the  future 
rather  than  the  present.  The  classroom  is  often  a  genera- 
tion ahead  of  public  opinion.  Everywhere  our  public  offi- 
cials are  of  the  people,  and  representative  of  majority  ideas. 
Though  our  States  and  the  National  Government  have  re- 
cently assumed  many  new  functions,  looking  toward  more 
centralized  control  and  better  public  administration,  each 


500  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

increase  in  state  control  has  been  objected  to  vigorously  by 
those  who  fear  that  the  coming  of  bureaucratic  efficiency 
may  reduce  us  to  mediocrity  and  rob  us  of  some  of  our  splen- 
did initiative.  A  national  religion  is  inconceivable  with  us, 
and  a  great  national  army  we  do  not  need  or  want.  We  are 
thrown  back,  then,  upon  our  systems  of  public  education, 
the  public  press,  and  our  political  life  as  the  great  moulding 
and  unifying  forces  in  our  most  heterogeneous  national  life, 
and  of  these  three  the  school  easily  stands  first  as  the  force 
which  ultimately  shapes  the  other  two.  Upon  the  public 
school  teacher,  then,  and  upon  those  who  direct  the  policies 
of  our  schools,  in  reality  rests  the  burden  of  the  future  of  our 
free  democratic  institutions  and  the  welfare  of  our  national 
life.  The  children  of  to-day  are  the  voters  and  rulers  of  to- 
morrow, and  to  prepare  them  well  or  ill  for  the  responsibili- 
ties of  citizenship  and  government  rests  almost  entirely  with 
the  schools  of  our  Nation.  What  progress  we  as  a  people 
make  in  national  character  from  generation  to  generation  is 
largely  determined  by  how  well  the  public  school  has  seen 
national  needs  and  been  guided  by  that  largeness  of  vision 
without  which  but  little  progress  in  national  welfare  is  ever 
made. 

The  problems  our  schools  face.  In  the  schools  our  people, 
adult  as  well  as  the  young,  must  be  trained  for  literacy,  and 
the  English  language  must  be  made  our  common  national 
speech.  There,  too,  the  youth  of  our  land,  girls  now  as  well 
as  boys,  must  be  trained  for  responsible  citizenship  in  our 
democracy,  and  so  filled  with  the  spirit  and  ideals  of  our 
national  life  that  they  will  be  willing  to  dedicate  their  lives 
to  the  preservation  and  advancement  of  our  national  wel- 
fare. In  our  high  schools  and  colleges  the  more  promising 
of  our  youth  must  be  trained  for  leadership  and  service  in 
the  State,  given  a  vision  of  our  world  place  and  relationships, 
and  prepared  for  constructive  service  along  the  lines  of  the 
highest  and  best  of  our  national  traditions  in  statesmanship, 
business,  science,  and  government.  In  our  common  schools 
and  in  special  schools  those  who  labor  must  be  trained  for 


FUNDAMENTAL  PRINCIPLES  AND  PROBLEMS    501 

vocational  efficiency,  and  given  a  sense  of  their  responsibility 
for  promoting  the  national  welfare.  The  school,  too,  must 
take  upon  itself  new  duties  in  teaching  health,  promoting 
healthful  sports,  training  in  manly  and  womanly  ways,  in- 
culcating thrift,  teaching  the  principles  underlying  the  con- 
servation of  our  human  and  material  national  resources,  and 
in  preparing  the  rising  generation  for  a  more  intelligent  use 
of  their  leisure  time.  This  last  involves  training  for  appreci- 
ation and  intelligent  enjoyment  by  developing  better  the 
musical,  artistic,  and  literary  tastes  of  our  people. 

Along  with  all  these  important  aspects  of  the  educational 
process  must  come  the  development  generally  among  our 
people  of  a  higher  moral  tone,  that  as  a  Nation  we  may  rise 
and  be  equal  to  the  advanced  moral  conceptions  which  we  in 
recent  years  have  set  up  in  our  international  dealings.  Our 
Nation  has  recently  been  accorded  a  prominent  position  in 
world  affairs  because  of  the  high  moral  impulses  which  have 
characterized  the  various  "notes"  and  addresses  of  our 
President  on  questions  relating  to  the  World  War;  because 
we  took  our  place  beside  the  Western  Nations  fighting  in 
defense  of  civilization  in  the  greatest  crisis  faced  in  a  thou- 
sand years;  and  because  our  "boys"  in  Europe  behaved  in 
a  manner  which  won  the  admiration  of  the  people  of  every 
nation  they  went  among.  As  a  result  the  very  name  Amer- 
ica stands,  now,  for  a  high  and  rigid  code  of  personal  and 
national  honor,  of  which  every  American  youth  should  not 
only  be  proud,  but  should  also  be  made  to  feel  that  he  must 
jealously  guard  in  his  thoughts,  his  actions,  and  his  life. 
The  same  code  of  national  honor  must  now  be  transferred 
and  lived  up  to  in  our  manners,  our  business  relationships, 
and  our  international  dealings  with  all  other  peoples  through- 
out the  world. 

National  morality  is  always  an  outgrowth  of  the  personal- 
ity, morality,  and  teaching  of  a  people,  and  this  in  turn  rests 
on  proper  knowledge,  humane  ideals,  the  proper  training  of 
the  instincts,  the  development  of  a  will  to  do  right,  good 
physical  vigor,  and,  to  a  certain  degree,  upon  economic 


502  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

competence.  Mere  moral  or  religious  instruction  will  not 
answer,  because  it  usually  does  not  get  beneath  the  surface  of 
the  problem.  No  nation  has  shown  more  completely  the 
futility  of  mere  religious  instruction  to  produce  morality 
than  has  Germany,  where  religious  instruction  was  univer- 
sally required.  The  problem  is  how  to  influence  and  direct 
the  deeper  sources  of  the  life  of  a  people,  so  that  the  national 
characteristics  it  is  desired  to  display  to  the  world  will  be 
brought  out  because  the  schools  have  instilled  into  every 
child  the  conceptions  and  attitudes  it  is  desired  to  see  shine 
forth.  With  the  best  of  the  young  manhood  of  England, 
France,  and  Germany  gone,  for  a  generation  to  come,  the 
call  for  our  Nation  to  assume  a  new  position  in  international 
affairs  is  one  we  cannot  refuse  to  meet.  Where  America  will 
stand  in  the  affairs  of  the  world,  and  the  place  it  will  occupy 
in  history  a  century  hence,  will  be  determined  largely  by  the 
ability  we  display  in  shouldering  the  new  tasks,  and  in  sub- 
ordinating every  personal  ambition  and  every  sordid  motive 
to  the  great  ideas  of  international  right  and  justice,  sterling 
national  worth,  and  service  to  mankind.  In  the  words  of 
Lincoln  we  must  "have  faith  that  right  makes  might,  and 
in  that  faith  to  the  end  dare  to  do  our  duty  as  we  understand 
it."  How  we  understand  our  duty,  and  how  large  the  duty 
appears,  ultimately  goes  back  to  the  schools  and  the  homes 
of  this  Nation. 

Education  a  constructive  national  tool.  Education  to-day 
has  become  the  great  constructive  tool  of  civilization.  A 
hundred  years  ago  it  was  of  little  importance  in  the  life  of  a 
Nation;  to-day  it  is  the  prime  essential  to  good  government 
and  national  progress.  As  people  are  freed  from  autocratic 
rule  the  need  for  general  education  becomes  painfully  evi- 
dent. In  the  hands  of  an  uneducated  people  democracy  is  a 
dangerous  instrument.  In  Russia,  Mexico,  and  the  Central 
American  "  republic  "  we  see  what  a  democracy  results  in  in 
the  hands  of  an  uneducated  people.  There,  too  often,  the 
revolver  instead  of  the  ballot  box  is  used  to  settle  public 
issues,  and  instead  of  an  orderly  government  under  law  we 


FUNDAMENTAL  PRINCIPLES  AND  PROBLEMS    503 

find  injustice  and  anarchy.  When  we  freed  Cuba,  Porto 
Rico,  and  the  Philippines  from  Spanish  rule  we  at  once  insti- 
tuted a  general  system  of  public  education  as  a  safeguard  to 
the  liberty  we  had  established  in  these  Islands,  and  to  educa- 
tion we  added  sanitation  and  courts  of  justice  as  important 
auxiliary  agencies.  The  good  results  of  our  work  in  these 
Islands  will  for  long  be  a  monument  to  our  political  foresight 
and  our  intelligent  conceptions  of  government.  In  a  similar 
way  the  French  have  opened  schools  in  Morocco  and  Algiers, 
and  the  English  in  Egypt  and  India.  With  the  freeing  of 
Palestine  from  the  rule  of  the  Turk,  the  English  at  once 
began  the  establishment  of  schools  and  a  national  university 
there.  In  all  lands  where  there  is  to-day  an  intelligent  pop- 
ular government,  general  education  is  regarded  as  an  instru- 
ment of  the  first  importance  in  moulding  and  shaping  the 
destinies  of  the  people. 

In  our  own  land,  despite  all  our  admirable  progress,  we 
still  have  a  large  task  before  us,  and  the  task  increases  with 
the  passing  of  years.  We  have  here  the  makings  of  a  great 
Nation,  but  the  task  before  us  is  to  make  it.  The  raw  ma- 
terials —  Saxon  and  Celt,  Teuton  and  Slav,  Latin  and  Hun 
—  all  are  here.  Our  problem  is  to  assimilate  and  amalga- 
mate them  all  into  a  unified  Nation,  actuated  by  common 
impulses,  inspired  by  common  ideals,  conscious  of  a  moral 
unity  and  purpose  which  will  be  our  strength,  and  so  filled 
with  reverence  for  our  type  of  national  life  that  our  youth 
will  feel  that  our  form  of  government  is  worth  dying  for  to 
defend.  Never  did  opportunity  knock  more  loudly  at  the 
doors  of  a  Nation  than  it  has  at  ours  since  1914,  and  never 
was  a  Nation  in  better  position  to  open  its  doors  in  response 
to  the  knocking.  The  place  we  shall  occupy  in  history  will 
be  determined  largely  by  how  well  we  meet  the  emergencies 
of  the  present  situation;  how  satisfactorily  we  solve  the 
many  new  problems  of  the  new  world  life  after  the  World 
War;  how  well  we  respond  to  the  calls  of  humanity  for  serv- 
ice; and  to  what  extent  we  utilize  the  opportunity  now  pre- 
sented to  reorganize  and  unify  our  national  life  within. 


504  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

Many  forces  must  cooperate  in  the  work,  but  unless  our 
schools  become  clearly  conscious  of  the  national  needs  and 
the  national  purposes,  and  utilize  the  opportunities  now 
presented  for  new  and  larger  national  service,  we  shall,  in 
part  at  least,  fail  to  reach  the  world  position  we  might  other- 
wise have  occupied. 

Importance  of  the  educational  service.  Education  in  a 
democratic  government  such  as  ours  is  the  greatest  of  all 
undertakings  for  the  promotion  of  the  national  welfare,  and 
the  teacher  in  our  schools  renders  an  inconspicuous  but  a 
highly  important  national  service.  In  teaching  to  the  young 
the  principles  which  lie  at  the  basis  of  our  democratic  life;  in 
awakening  in  them  the  conception  of  liberty  guided  by  law, 
and  the  difference  between  freedom  and  license;  in  training 
them  for  self-control;  in  developing  in  them  the  ability  to 
shoulder  responsibility;  in  awakening  them  to  the  greatness 
of  that  democratic  nobility  in  which  all  can  share;  in  instill- 
ing into  them  the  importance  of  fidelity  to  duty,  truth, 
honor,  and  virtue;  and  in  unifying  diverse  elements  and  fus- 
ing them  into  the  national  mould;  the  schools  are  rendering 
a  national  service  seldom  appreciated  and  not  likely  to  be 
overestimated.  It  was  to  create  such  constructive  institu- 
tions for  our  democratic  life  that  we  took  the  school  over 
from  the  Church,  severed  all  connections  between  it  and  its 
parent,  made  it  free  and  equally  open  to  all,  and  dignified  its 
instruction  as  a  birthright  of  every  American  boy  and  girl. 


QUESTIONS  FOR  DISCUSSION 

1.  Does  the  obligation  to  educate  impose  any  greater  exercise  of  state 
authority  than  the  obligation  to  protect  the  public  health? 

2.  What  would  be  the  result  were  we  to  relieve  from  school  taxation 
those  who  send  their  children  to  private  or  parochial  schools? 

3.  While  schools  have,  at  first,  been  established  by  majority  action, 
is  it  not  true  that  much  further  development  has  been  made  by  a  small 
but  thinking  minority?    Illustrate. 

4.  Show  that  art  and  musical  education  would  be  a  legitimate  extension 
of  public  educational  effort. 


FUNDAMENTAL  PRINCIPLES  AND  PROBLEMS    505 

5.  Does  the  provision  of  equal  opportunity  for  all  necessitate  equal  or 
equivalent  schools  or  school  rights?    Illustrate. 

6.  Show  why  the  essentially  democratic  American  school  system  would 
not  be  suited  to  an  autocratic  type  of  government. 

7.  Show  that  compulsory  school  attendance  is  the  natural  corollary  of 
taxation  for  schools. 

8.  What  is  meant  by  the  State  increasing  standards  which  may  involve 
reciprocal  obligations  on  the  part  of  the  State? 

9.  Show  that  the  demands  of  the  State  on  private  and  parochial  schools, 
mentioned  on  page  494,  are  legitimate  demands. 

10.  Illustrate  the  difference  between  an  acceptance  in  principle  and  an 
acceptance  in  reality. 

11.  Are  the  characteristics  which  we  have  developed  in  our  young  people 
those  of  a  new  or  an  old  country?    Why  so? 

12.  Illustrate  what  is  meant  by  intelligent  responsibility  for  the  common 
welfare. 

13.  What  kind  of  discipline  is  represented  by  the  Army?  By  the  Boy 
Scouts?    Are  schools  of  both  types?    Illustrate. 

14.  Show  that  the  weight  of  a  priesthood  and  the  force  of  religious  instruc- 
tion in  the  schools  would  be  strong  supports  for  an  autocratic  state. 

15.  We  do  much  less  in  the  training  of  teachers  than  do  homogeneous 
monarchical  nations  having  an  army  and  a  priesthood.  Is  this  right? 
How  do  you  explain  this  condition? 

16.  Have  we  done  much  so  far  in  giving  our  students  world  vision?  Why? 
Do  we  need  to  do  so? 

17.  What  are  likely  to  be  the  effects  at  home  of  the  standards  of  national 
honor  we  have  developed  abroad?     Illustrate. 

18.  Show  how  our  educational  tasks  increase  with  the  years. 

19.  Show  how  the  World  War  is  likely  to  be  of  great  advantage  to  us  in 
the  matter  of  assimilating  and  integrating  our  foreign-born. 

SELECTED  REFERENCES 

Alger,  Geo.  W.     "Preparedness  and  Democratic  Discipline";  in  Atlantic 
Monthly,  vol.  117,  pp.  476-86.     (April,  1916.) 
An  excellent  article  on  our  national  problems. 

Bowden,  Witt.  "Education  for  the  Control  and  Enjoyment  of  Wealth"; 
in  Educational  Review,  vol.  49,  pp.  147-67.  (Feb.,  1915.)  Also  "Educa- 
tion for  Power  and  Responsibility";  in  Educational  Review,  vol.  49,  pp. 
852-67.     (April,  1915.) 

Two  very  food  article*,  •upplemental  to  this  chapter.   Describes  problems  and  train- 
ing NisJti, 

*Butlcr,  N.  M.  True  and  False  Democracy.  106  pp.  The  Macmillan 
Co.,  New  York,  1907. 

Contains  three  excellent  addresses  on  the  problems  of  democracy  and  the  work  of  the 
'  in  their  solution. 


506  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

*Dewey,  John  and  Evelyn.  Schools  of  Tomorrow.  316  pp.  E.  P.  Dutton 
&  Co.,  New  York,  1915. 

Chapter  XI,  on  "Democracy  and  Education,"  forms  good  supplemental  reading  for 
this  chapter. 

*Draper,  A.  S.  American  Education.  382  pp.  Houghton  Mifflin  Co., 
Boston,  1909. 

The  first  five  addresses  in  the  volume,  dealing  with  "The  Nation's  Purpose,"  "Develop- 
ment of  the  School  System,"  "The  Functions  of  the  State,"  "The  Legal  Basis  of  the 
Schools,"  and  "Illiteracy  and  Compulsory  Attendance,"  are  able  articles,  supplementary 
to  this  chapter. 

*Eliot,  Chas.  W.    "The  Function  of  Education  in  a  Democratic  Society"; 
in  his  Educational  Reform.    418  pp.    Century  Co.,  New  York,  1898. 
An  able  address,  pointing  out  a  number  of  important  functions. 

Eliot,  Chas.  W.  "Educational  Reform  and  the  Social  Order";  in  School 
Review,  vol.  17,  pp.  217-22.     (April,  1909.) 

A  good  article,  dealing  with  the  classes  to  be  educated  in  a  democratic  society. 

Eliot,  Chas.  W.  Education  for  Efficiency.  29  pp.  Houghton  Mifflin  Co., 
Boston,  1909. 

A  well-written  monograph  on  the  subject. 

Hanus,  Paul  H.  "Secondary  Education  as  a  Unifying  Force  in  American 
Life";  chap,  v  in  his  Educational  Aims  and  Educational  Values.  The 
Macmillan  Co.,  New  York,  1899. 

The  problems  of  democracy  presented  for  solution,  in  which  the  secondary  school  can 
aid. 

*Knight,  M.  M.  " One  Reason  why  our  College  Students  do  not  have  World 
Vision";  in  School  and  Society,  vol.  vi,  pp.  285-88.     (Sept.  8,  1917.) 
An  excellent  article. 

Marrinan,  J.  J.     "The  Education  of  Youth  for  Democracy";  in  Educa- 
tional Review,  vol.  49,  pp.  379-90.     (April,  1915.) 
A  splendid  article  to  read  in  connection  with  this  chapter. 

Monroe,  J.  P.  New  Demands  in  Education.  312  pp.  Doubleday,  Page 
&  Co.,  New  York,  1912. 

A  very  readable  book,  dealing  with  the  different  demands  in  education,  such  as  citizen- 
ship, business,  vocational  training,  etc.,  and  the  reasons  for  these  new  demands. 

Pritchett,  Henry  Smith.  "The  Educated  Man  and  the  State";  in  Report 
of  the  United  States  Commissioner  of  Education,  1899-1900,  vol.  n,  pp. 
1408-16. 

Inaugural  address  as  president  of  the  Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology.  An 
excellent  address  on  the  subject. 


INDEX 


Academies,  begin  teacher  training, 
288;  early  source  of  trained  teach- 
ers, 288;  state  systems  of,  79. 

Academy,  character  of  instruction 
in,  79, 187;  characteristic  features, 
186,  188;  early  foundations,  185; 
Franklin's  at  Philadelphia,  185; 
number  of  established,  185,  192; 
Phillips  Andover  foundation  grant, 
188;  semi-religious  nature  of,  188; 
transition  character  of,  184. 

Adams,  John,  on  education,  58. 

Adams,  John  Quincy,  on  Federal 
Constitution,  78. 

Admission  requirements  to  colleges, 
table  of  early,  234. 

Adult  education,  424,  481,  503; 
community  centers  for,  429. 

Agricultural  colleges  founded,  210. 
Agricultural  high  schools,  410, 414. 
Agricultural  extension  work,  430. 

Alabama,  education  in  before  the 
Civil  War,  250. 

Albany  Lancastrian  School  Society, 

Alignment  of  interests  on  free  school 
question,  119. 

Amalgamation  of  races,  341. 

America,  settlement  of,  11. 

Americanization  program  needed, 
481. 

Anglican  Church  attitude,  21. 

Anglican  settlements,  15. 

Apperception,  317. 

Apprenticeship  legislation,  22;  break- 
down of  old  system,  413. 

Arguments  for  and  against  free 
schools,  120. 

Iimetic,  Colburn's,  303;  first 
illustrated,  304;  measurement  of 
instruction  in,  447;  mental,  302. 

Arithmeticker,  an,  32. 

Arkansas,  education  in,  before  the 
War,  250. 


Army  draft  examinations,  results  of, 

395. 
Assimilation  of  peoples,  341. 
Attendance,  compulsory,  State  may 

compel,   492.      (See    Compulsory 

Education.) 
Attitudes,  early,  toward  education, 

15. 
Average    child,    the,    370;    average 

school  courses,  371;  effect  of,  372. 

Bache,  A.  D.,  276. 

Baltimore,  school  societies  in,  88. 

Barnard,  Henry,  American  Journal 
of  Education,  170,  260;  first  U.S. 
Commissioner  of  Education,  480 ;  in 
Connecticut,  168;  in  Rhode  Island 
169;  the  scholar  of  "the  awaken* 
ing,"  170;  visits  Europe,  276. 

Batavia  plan,  378. 

Battle  for  elimination  of  sectarian- 
ism, 171;  establishment  of  school 
supervision,  155;  extend  the  sys- 
tem, 184;  make  schools  free,  147; 
state  supported  schools,  128;  tax 
support,  129;  eliminate  pauper- 
school  idea,  139. 

Beecher,  Henry  Ward,  274. 

Bell,  Alexander  Graham,  388. 

Bell,  Andrew,  90;  his  monitorial  sys- 
tem, 90. 

Bible  as  a  reader,  29,  30,  32. 

Binet-Simon  intelligence  scale,  451 . 

Bingham,  Caleb,  174;  his  textbooks, 
174,  218,219. 

Blackboards,  first  use  of,  246. 

Blind,  education  of,  books  for,  389; 
li; story  of  education  for,  388. 

Blow,  Susan,  320. 

Mtablkhei  first  high  school, 
190;  schools  in  1823,  226. 

Braillr  alphabet  for  the  blind,  389. 

Bnekhm&m,  Robert  .?..  ta 
171;  work  in  Kentucky,  137. 


508 


INDEX 


Brooklyn  boys,  what  training  paid 

to,  356. 
Brothers  of  the  Christian  Schools,  in 

France,  53. 
Buchanan,  President,  Veto  of  Land 

Grant  College  bill,  210. 
Buffalo,  district  system  in,  237;  first 

city  superintendent  in,  160. 

Calvinist  governments  in  New  Eng- 
land, 16;  influence  on  education, 
71;  sects,  13. 

Cambridge  plan,  375. 

Carter,  James  G.,  established  teach- 
er-training school,  287,  290;  work 
for  education  in  Massachusetts, 
163,  193,  197. 

Catechism,  29,  30,  84. 

Catholics,  battle  to  share  funds  in 
New  York,  177. 

Central  schools  for  peculiar  children, 
384. 

Charity  schools  of  the  Anglican 
Church,  23, 83;  battle  to  eliminate, 
139. 

Cheever,  Ezekiel,  33;  his  Accidence, 
33. 

Chemistry,  first  professors  of,  208. 

Chicago,  district  system  in,  238; 
establishment  of  supervision  in, 
238;  size  of  early  schools  in,  238. 

Child,  the  average,  370. 

Child-labor  laws,  first,  253. 

Child-life,  lengthening  of  period  of 
dependence  of,  recent,  355. 

Child  study  movement,  309. 

Christianity,  contribution  of,  3. 

Church  schools,  83. 

Cincinnati,  early  school  foundations 
in,  89;  propaganda  societies  in, 
124. 

Cities,  growth  of,  101, 102;  how  man- 
ufacturing changed  position  of, 
104;  new  social  problems  of,  106; 
rise  of  manufacturing  in,  102. 

Citizenship  classes,  427. 

City  school  societies,  86. 

City  school  superintendents,  first, 
160. 

Civil  or  state  school,  evolution  of,  out 
of  religious,  44. 

Civilization,  our,  sources  of,  1. 


Civil  War,  checks  development,  245, 
253;  effect  of,  on  schools,  250,  253. 

Clinton,  DeWitt,  on  value  of  schools, 
112,  197;  opinion  of  Lancastrian 
schools,  94;  recommends  teacher- 
training  schools,  288. 

Colburn's  Arithmetic,  218,  259,  294, 
303. 

College  entrance  subjects,  408. 

College  of  New  Orleans,  258. 

Colleges,  colonial,  dates  of  founda- 
tion, 201 ;  size  of  classes  in,  80,  201. 

Colleges,  early  admission  require- 
ments, 234;  establishment  of  new 
degrees  in,  432;  founded  by  1860, 
203,  205;  national  aid  toward,  204; 
new  chairs  and  schools,  432. 

Columbian  Primer,  174,  218. 

Commercial  high  school,  410. 

Community-center  schools,  428,  469. 

Compulsory  education,  corollary  to 
taxation  for,  356;  first  legislation 
for,  253;  legislation  for,  before 
1890,  379;  legislation  for,  since 
1890,  380;  results  of  this,  381. 

Compulsory  maintenance  of  schools, 
15. 

Concentration,  317,  444. 

Congressional  township  grants  for 
educatioD,  59. 

Connecticut,  early  school  legislation 
in,  67;  Henry  Barnard  in,  168; 
school  fund  of,  130;  Western  Re- 
serve of,  130,  172. 

Consolidation  of  schools,  469. 

Constitution,  National,  J.  Q.  Adams 
on,  78;  does  not  mention  educa- 
tion, 52;  how  it  settled  the  religious 
question,  54;  tenth  amendment  to, 
54. 

Constitutions,  early  State,  61. 

Content  subjects,  the,  370. 

Correlation,  318,  444. 

County  school  superintendents,  159, 
160;  under  county-unit  plan,  472. 

County-unit  consolidation,  470;  edu- 
cational significance  of,  472. 

Cousin,  Victor,  Report  on  Education 
in  German  Lands,  272;  published 
in  the  United  States,  273;  influ- 
ence in  Michigan,  158,  273;  influ- 
ence in  Massachusetts,  274. 


INDEX 


509 


Crary,  Isaac  C,  ancestry  of,  171; 
work  in  Michigan,  158,  273. 

Crippled  children,  classes  for,  392. 

Culture-epoch  theory,  315. 

Curriculum,  early  attempts  to  solve 
problem,  443;  eliminations  from, 
444;  overcrowded,  the,  442;  stand- 
ard tests  as  an  aid,  449. 

Dame  school,  25,  43. 

Dartmouth  College  case,  206. 

Davis  bill,  415. 

Deaf,  education  of,  386,  387. 

Declamation  and  oratory,  218. 

Declaration  of  Independence,  56. 

Defectives,  education  of,  385;  types 
of  schools  for,  392. 

De  Garmo,  Charles,  316. 

Delaware,  early  constitutional  pro- 
visions of,  62;  early  school  legisla- 
tion in,  68;  education  in,  before  the 
Civil  War,  247. 

Democracy,  as  expressed  in  the  Illi- 
nois constitution,  111;  need  for 
leadership  in,  479;  rise  of,  in  the 
West,  108. 

Denominations,  religious,  number  of, 
181. 

Dentistry,  first  instruction  in,  209. 

Detroit,  district  system  in,  237;  the 
first  school  in,  237. 

Dewey,  John,  his  ideas,  360;  ques- 
tions educational  organization, 
466;  work  c^f,  359,  445. 

Differentiated  courses  of  study,  375; 
schools.  377. 

Dilworth's  Guide,  41,  174,  218, 
219. 

Disciplinary  class,  the,  383. 
line,  colonial,  36. 

District  system,  curbing  the,  161; 
early  abolition  of,  241;  great  day, 
of,  235;  how  it  organized  a  county, 
289;  in  Buffalo,  r.M;  in  Chicago, 
238;  in  Detroit,  237;  in  the  cities, 
236;  merits  and  defects  of,  240; 
origin  of,  in  Massachusetts,  41; 
spread  of,  162. 

Drawing,  first  introduction  of,  252; 
Pestalozzian  methods  in,  306. 

Drill  subjects,  the,  370. 

Dumb,  education  <A,  386. 


Dwight,  Edmund,  290. 
Dwight,  Nathaniel,  his  Geography, 
297. 

Education,  a  constructive  tool,  496, 
502;  development  of,  as  a  teaching 
subject,  361;  first  professorship  of, 
361;  how  far  State*  may  provide, 
490;  schools  to  provide  equal 
opportunity  for,  491 ;  the  essential 
nature  of,  488;  the  problems  we 
face,  500;  why  difficult  in  U.S., 
499. 

Educational  conceptions,  new,  366. 

Educational  consciousness,  before 
1820,  76;  stages  in  awakening  of, 
118. 

Educational  ladder,  the  American, 
235. 

Educational  propaganda  societies, 
123. 

Elementary  school,  as  reorganized 
by  France  and  Japan,  457;  de- 
velopment of,  changed  in  direction 
after  the  Civil  War,  252;  elimina- 
tion of  subject  matter  of,  444; 
evolution  of  the  graded,  215;  evo- 
lution of  the  school  of  the  3-Rs, 
215;  how  modified  by  the  ideas  of 
Pestalozzi,  266;  how  reorganized 
between  1825  and  1890,  826;  re- 
cent proposals  for  reorganization 
of,  456;  subjects  of,  become  fixed, 
220;  subjects  specified  in  the  laws, 
222. 

Kliot.  Pres.  Charles  W.,  374,  455. 

Endowment  funds,  early,  129. 

English  immigration  to  the  U.S., 
336. 

K relish  origin  of  early  schools,  25, 
257. 

Erie  canal  opened,  104. 

Ethical  Culture  School,  introduces 
the  kindergarten,  325. 

European  background  of  American 
education.  V.\. 

Evening  schools,  first,  252,  421; 
need  for,  422;  types  of,  423. 

Expression  subjects,  the,  370. 

Faculty  psychology,  264. 

Fads  and  frills  in  education,  358. 


510 


INDEX 


Feeble-minded,  education  of,  390. 
Fellenberg's  manual-labor  institute 

at  Hofwyl,  267;  idea  in  the  U.S., 

279. 
Ferguson,  Katy,  school  for  the  poor, 

85. 
Flexner,  A.,  modern  school  proposal, 

462. 
Florida,  education  in,  before  the  Civil 

War,  250. 
Foreign    born    in    the    Cleveland 

schools,  358;  in  our  national  life, 

340. 
Foreign    influences     on    American 

education,  257;  general  result  of, 

281 
Franklin  Primer,  The,  174,  218. 
Franklin's  Academy  at  Philadelphia, 

185,  286. 
Frye's  Geographies,  302. 

Gallaudet,  Rev.  Thos.  H.,  386, 390. 

Galloway,  Samuel,  171. 

Gardening,  school,  398. 

Garfield,  James  A.,  and  National 
Bureau  of  Education,  480. 

Gary  idea,  the,  464. 

Geography,  character  of  Dwight's, 
297;  in"  instruction,  219,  223;  in- 
struction in,  revolutionized,  301. 

Georgia,  early  school  legislation  in, 
69;  education  in,  before  the  Civil 
War,  248. 

German  education  adopts  Pestaloz- 
zian  ideas,  268;  their  educational 
plan,  268;  Volkschule  not  adopted 
by  America,  282. 

German  immigration  to  the  U.S., 
335. 

Gifted  children,  classes  for,  378. 

Girls,  education  of,  in  the  academies, 
188;  early  seminaries  for,  founded, 
209;  in  colleges,  209;  in  state  uni- 
versities, 210. 

Globes,  use  of,  246. 

Goodrich's  History  of  the  United 
States,  219. 

Gospel  lands,  172. 

Gottingen,  early  American  students 
at,  270. 

Governors  recommend  the  estab- 
lishment of  schools,  127. 


Graded  elementary  school,  evolu- 
tion of,  215. 

Graded  schools  in  25  cities  before 
1860,  228;  natural  transition  to 
graded  system,  232. 

Graded  system,  evolution  of,  in  Prov- 
idence, 227. 

Grading,  school,  beginnings  of,  226; 
by  class  subdivision,  229;  by  use 
of  ushers,  229;  flexible,  372. 

Grant,  Pres.,  proposes  constitu- 
tional amendment,  180. 

Greek,  professors  of,  5. 

Greeks,  contribution  of,  2. 

Griscom,  John,  190,  271. 

Grube  method,  the,  304. 

Guyot,  Arnold,  295,  390. 

Hall,  G.  Stanley,  310. 

Hall,  Samuel  JR.,  establishes  first 
normal  school,  287;  his  Lectures  on 
Schoolkeeping,  242,  288. 

Hamilton,  Alexander,  86. 

Harper,  President,  proposals  of,  456. 

Harris,  William  T.,  305,  480;  his 
science  course,  300;  organizes  first 
school  kindergarten,  320;  superin- 
tendent of  St.  Louis  schools,  300. 

Harvard  College,  admission  require- 
ments, 1642,  28,  early  size  of,  201; 
founding  of,  16;  instruction  in,  80, 
202. 

Health,  medical  inspection  for,  894; 
new  interest  in,  893;  worth  of  a 
person,  394. 

Health  supervision,  394;  five  years 
of  work  with,  396. 

Herbart,  J.  F.,  debt  to,  317;  life  and 
work,  311;  purpose  of  education, 
314;  problems  he  attacked,  313. 

Herbartian  method,  314;  movement 
in  Germany,  315;  movement  in 
the  U.S.,  316. 

Herbart  Society,  National,  work  of, 
316. 

High  school,  Alex.  Lange  on  position 
of,  458;  cosmopolitan,  the,  411; 
change  in  character,  408,  411;  de- 
velopment of,  192;  development 
by  1860,  198;  early  schools,  194; 
establishing  by  court  decisions, 
197;  first  American,  190;  first  eve- 


INDEX 


511 


ning,  252;  first  in  New  York,  193; 
first  in  Providence,  195;  fitted  onto 
graded  system,  233;  Massachu- 
setts Law  of  1827  for,  193;  new 
courses  in,  and  schools,  409;  new 
subjects  of  study,  234;  origin  oi? 
name,  190;  recent  expansion  of, 
407,  419;  rising  demand  for,  189; 
struggle  to  establish  and  maintain, 
196. 

Historv,  as  developed  by  Herbart, 
313;  early  instruction  in,  219,  222; 
instruction  in  a  later  develop- 
ment, 307;  instruction  first  re- 
quired, 307;  neglected  by  Pesta- 
lozzi,  308. 

Hofwyl,  Fellenberg's  Institute  at, 
267. 

Home,  changes  in,  348;  changes  in 
character  of,  350;  effect  of  changes 
on  school,  354;  gains  to,  351;  in- 
fluence of  changes,  353;  influence 
weakened,  352;  the  modern,  349. 

Home  and  Colonial  Infant  Society, 
270,296. 

Hornl>ook,  The,  30. 

Household-arts  high  school,  410. 

B  i,     John,     on     Providence 

schools,  220. 

Hughes,  Thomas,  bequest  for  educa- 
tion, 89. 

Huguenots,  French,  13. 

Illinois,  preamble  to  first  school  law, 
111;  settlement  of,  74,  75. 

Illiterates,  adult,  424;  in  male  popu- 
lation, 425;  who  constitute,  427. 

Immigration,  change  in  character  of, 
337;  the  stream  sets  in,  334. 

Immigrant  flood  in  Massachusetts, 
479;  mixture  in  America,  340,  503; 
mixture  in  the  Cleveland  schools, 
358;  in  our  national  life,  426. 

Indiana,  battle  for  taxation  in,  134; 
early  constitutional  provisions  in, 
75.  259;  referendum  in,  135;  settle- 
ment of,  74;  university  of,  founded, 
207. 

Individual  instruction,  waste  under. 
36. 

Industrial  changes  since  1850,  343; 
since  Lincoln  s  day,  344;  indus- 


trial revolution,  the,  343;  indus- 
trial schools,  state,  284;  industrial 
transformation,  after  1815,  103; 
after  1860,  344;  types  of  industrial 
schools,  423;  what  industrial  train- 
ing paid,  356. 

Infant  schools,  in  eastern  cities,  97; 
origin  of,  96;  societies,  96,  98. 

Intelligence,  classification  of,  452; 
measurement  of,  450;  significance 
of  measurement  of,  452. 

Inventions  and  industry,  104. 

Irish  immigration,  335. 

Isolation  and  independence,  early, 
259. 

Jackson,  Andrew,  significance  of  elec- 
tion of,  110. 

Jay,  Justice,  86;  on  education,  57. 

Jefferson,  Thomas,  on  education,  57; 
propagandist  for  French  ideas, 
258;  scheme  for  education  in  Vir- 
ginia, 258;  helped  inaugurate 
schools  of  Washington,  88. 

Jena  ideas  in  American  normal 
schools,  317;  Jena-Ziller-Rein 
school,  316. 

Johnson,  Mrs.,  school  at  Fairhope, 
Alabama,  446. 

Jones,  Miss  Margaret  E.  M  ,  at  Os- 
wego, 296. 

Journalism,  educational,  begins,  260, 

Journals,  early  American  educa- 
tional, 260. 

Julius,  Dr.,  277. 

Juvenile  delinquency  in  cities,  107. 

Kalamazoo  case,  the,  198. 

Kentucky,  early  school  legislation 
in.  70;  education  in,  before  the 
Civil  War,  248;  struggle  in,  to  pre- 
serve school  funds,  117. 

Kiil<l,  John,  bequest  for  education, 
89. 

Kindergarten,  contribution  of,  322; 
early  American  schools,  319; 
growth  of.  in  America,  320;  origin 
of.  318;  the  kindergarten  idea, 
320;  spread  of  the  idea,  319;  spread 

in  the  is,  319. 
kin;:  Philip's  War,  effect  of,  on  colo- 
nies, 37. 


512 


INDEX 


Kings  College,  foundation  of,    46; 

rechristened  as  Columbia,  206. 
Knowledge  conception  of  education, 

the  old,  365. 
Kriisi,  Hermann,  Jr.,  295. 

Lancaster,  Joseph,  90. 

Lancastrian  school  system,  90;  cost 
for  instruction,  96;  course  of  study 
in,  223;  essential  features  of,  92; 
religious  instruction  in  schools, 
175;  schools  in  American  cities, 
90;  value  of,  in  awakening  inter- 
est, 94;  value  in  preparing  for 
taxation  for  schools,  95. 

Land-grant  colleges  founded,  210; 
endowments,  211. 

Land  grants  for  education,  National, 
129;  16th  section,  59,  60. 

Lange,  Alexis,  on  high  school,  458. 

Language  instruction  as  developed 
by  Pestalozzi,  299. 

Larsen,  Gustav,  comes  to  Boston,  325. 

Latin  grammar  school,  at  Boston, 
28,  34;  at  New  Haven,  33;  early 
importance  of,  28,  78;  in  New 
England,  28;  origin  of,  6;  trans- 
planting of,  26. 

Law  schools,  first,  208. 

Lee,  Robert,  on  educational  needs  of 
the  South,  251. 

Lewis,  Samuel,  ancestry  of,  171; 
work  in  Ohio,  274. 

Lincoln,  Abraham,  on  education, 
113;  changes  since  his  day,  344. 

Literature  added  as  a  study,  313. 

Living,  changes  in  nature  of,  346. 

Local  nature  of  early  schools,  155. 

Lock-step  in  education,  374. 

Louisiana,  education  in,  before  the 
Civil  War,  249. 

Lovell's  Young  Speaker,  218. 

Lowell,  Massachusetts,  aid  given  to 
Catholic  schools  in,  178. 

Luther,  Martin,  8. 

Madison,  James,  on  education,  57. 

Magellan,  his  work,  11. 

Manhattan  Trade  School,  415. 

Mann,  Horace,  battle  for  secular 
schools,  175;  becomes  Secretary, 
164;  controversy  with  the  Boston 


schoolmasters,  278;  edited  Jour- 
nals, 260;  established  normal 
schools,  290;  his  Reports,  167,  277; 
his  work,  166;  problems  faced,  165; 
Seventh  Report,  277,  387. 

Manual-labor  movement,  in  the  U.S., 
279;  proposal  to  use  for  teacher- 
training,  289. 

Manual  training,  early  introduction 
of,  325;  origin  of  the  instruction, 
323;  reaches  the  United  States, 
324. 

Manufacturing,  early  rise  of,  102; 
rapid  development  of,  106. 

Manumission  Society,  the,  86. 

Maryland,  early  school  legislation  in, 
68;  education  in,  before  the  Civil 
War,  247. 

Mason,  Lowell,  272. 

Massachusetts,  creating  supervision 
in,  163;  early  constitutional  pro- 
visions in,  62;  early  school  legisla- 
tion in,  65;  influence  of  Cousin's 
Report  in,  274;  Law  of  1642,  17; 
Law  of  1647,  17;  religious  battle 
in,  175. 

Mayo,  Charles  and  Elizabeth,  269, 
296. 

McMurry,  Charles  and  Frank  and 
Lida,  316. 

Medical  inspection,  history  of,  394; 
five  years  work  with,  at  Reading, 
396. 

Medical  schools,  early  foundations, 
208. 

Meeting-house,  the,  in  New  England, 
41,  45. 

Mental  arithmetic,  302. 

Methodology  arises,  209,  308;  goes 
to  an  extreme,  310. 

Miami  University,  203. 

Michigan,  early  constitutional  pro- 
visions in,  76;  influence  of  Cousin's 
Report  in,  158,  273;  university 
founded,  207,  259;  small  size  of 
university  before  1860,  208. 

Mills,  Caleb,  ancestry  of,  171 ;  work 
in  Indiana,  170. 

Missouri,  education  in,  before  the 
Civil  War,  250;  experimental 
school  at  university  of,  446;  settle- 
ment of,  74. 


INDEX 


515 


Modern  school,  Flexner  proposals, 

462;  spirit  of,  369. 
Monitorial    schools,    cost    for,    96; 

essentials   of   instruction   in,   92; 

value  of,  94;  character  of,  90. 
Montessori  method,  321. 
Morse's  Geography,  219. 
Murray,  Lindley,  his  Grammar,  174, 

219. 
Music,  first  introduction,  227,  252, 

272;  Pestalozzian  methods  in,  307; 

in  the  kindergarten,  318,  320,  323. 

Naef,  Joseph,  his  work  in  America, 
271. 

National  Bureau  of  Education,  es- 
tablishment of,  480;  need  for  en- 
larging, 480,  482. 

National  Committee  on  Vocational 
Education,  414. 

National  initiative  and  responsibil- 
ity, 496. 

National  problems,  new,  356,  501, 
504. 

National  system  of  education  finally 
evolved,  487. 

National  system  of  vocational  edu- 
cation promised,  418. 

National  university,  early  interest  in, 
202;  Washington's  bequest  for,  202. 

Native  American  party  favors  secu- 
larization, 179. 

Nature  study  instruction  evolved, 
301. 

New  England  people,  influence  of, 
7 1 ;  migrations  of.  72. 

trjland   Primer,   30,  41,  174; 
sales  of,  217. 

New  Hampshire,  early  constitutional 

Cro visions,  63;  early  school  legis- 
ttion,  65. 
New  Jersey,  early  school  legislation, 
68;  elimination  of  pauper  schools 
145. 
New  York,  early  school  legislation, 
7;  first  state  school  ft 
tend-  9  <  w  England  settle- 

ment of 
New  York  City,  board  of  e«l 
rcated,  178;  early  so< j 
riH  in,  107;  sectarian  aid  pro- 
hibited in, 


New  York  Free  School  Society.  (See 
Public  School  Society.) 

Normal  schools,  character  of  early 
training  in,  287,  289;  find  their 
place,  308;  private  normals,  294, 
809;  rise  of,  in  America,  286;  rise 
of,  in  Europe,  285;  schools  before 
1860,  293;  the  first  state  normal 
school,  290. 

North  Carolina,  early  school  legisla- 
tion in,  69;  education  in,  before 
the  Civil  War,  247;  university  of, 
founded,  206. 

North- West  Territory  organized,  59. 

Object  lessons,  lead  to  elementary 
science,  300;  Miss  Mayo's  book 
on,  270;  nature  of,  270. 

Ohio,  development  of  school  taxa- 
tion in,  133;  early  constitutional 
provisions  in,  75;  land  grants  to, 
59,  129;  settlement  of,  74. 

Ohio  Company,  the,  203. 

Ohio  University,  203. 

Olmstead,  Dennison,  286. 

Open-air  classes,  393. 

Opportunity,  equal,  to  be  provided, 
491. 

Oral  and  objective  teaching,  297. 

Oswego  Movement,  the,  295. 

Over-age  classes,  274. 

Owen,  Robert,  and  infant  schools, 
97. 

Page  bill,  415. 

Page,  David,  242,  289. 

Parallel  courses  of  study,  874. 

Parental  schools,  383. 

Park.-r,  Col.  Francis,  302,  328,  373, 
443. 

Parochial  schools,  88;  parochial- 
srbool  attitude,  20. 

Pauper  schools,  83,  89;  in  Pennsyl- 
vania, 1H;  in  New  Jersey,  145; 
the  pauper-school  attitude,  21. 

lVnn-\  lvania,  charity-school  legisla- 
tion in,  1U;  early  constitutional 
C  revisions  in,  68;  early  school  legis- 
ition  in,  67;  law  of  1834,  141; 
paroehial  type,  20;  university  of, 
founded,  46. 

Pens,  steel,  use  of,  246. 


514 


INDEX 


Permanent  school  funds,  beginnings 
of,  130. 

Permissive  legislation,  early,  131. 

Pestalozzi,  consequences  of  his  ideas, 
265;  contribution  of,  264;  Diester- 
weg  on,  289;  educational  ideas  of, 
264,  298;  educational  experiences 
of,  263;  faculty  psychology  of,  264; 
his  idea  of  an  A,  B,  C,  of  instruc- 
tion, 305;  inspiration  of,  261;  life 
and  work,  262;  spread  of  his  ideas, 
267 ;  where  he  left  the  problem,  311. 

Pestalozzian  ideas,  and  Infant 
Schools,  100;  introduction  of ,  into 
England,  269;  into  the  U.S.,  294. 

Petrarch,  5. 

Petty  or  dame  school,  the,  25. 

Pharmacy,  first  instruction  in,  209. 

Philadelphia  societies,  school,  89. 

Philanthropy  in  education,  83,  100. 

Phillips  Andover,  early  training  of 
teachers  in,  289;  founding  grant 
of,  188. 

Physical  education,  397,  322. 

Picket,  Albert  and  John,  260. 

Pierce,  Cyrus,  292. 

Pierce,  Rev.  John  D.,  ancestry  of, 
171 ;  work  of,  in  Michigan,  158, 273. 

Pikes  Arithmetic,  218. 

Play  and  playground  organization, 
396. 

Play  idea  in  education,  318. 

Population,  our  American  mixture, 
340,  503;  our  original,  332. 

Primary  education  organized,  99. 

Primary  schools,  beginning  of,  98. 

Primer,  the  Neio  England,  30,  41. 

Principles  established  in  American 
education,  488-495. 

Printing,  invention  of,  5. 

Project  idea  in  education,  the,  445. 

Promotional  plans,  372. 

Propaganda  societies,  123. 

Protestant  ideas,  9,  13;  revolts,  7; 
sects,  10,  13. 

Providence,  Rhode  Island,  early 
schoolhouse  contract  in,  244; 
evolution  of  graded  schools  in, 
227;  first  course  of  study  in,  223; 
Mechanics  Association  of,  89, 114; 
school  societies  in,  89. 

Psalter,  the,  30,  32. 


Psychology  becomes  the  master  sci- 
ence, 309,  365,  379;  Herbartian 
ideas  in,  317. 

Public  vs.  private  education,  494. 

Public  school  sentiment,  alignment 
of  interests  toward,  119;  growth  of, 
as  illustrated  by  taxation  in  Ohio, 
133;  none  before  about  1820,  123; 
stages  in  development  of,  118. 

Public  School  Society  of  New  York 
City,  87;  advanced  instruction  in 
schools  of,  225;  battle  against 
sectarian  demands,  177;  individual 
grading  in  the  schools  of,  224; 
model  school  building  of,  98; 
schedule  of  charges  in  schools  of, 
147. 

Puritans  of  New  England,  15. 

Quaker  settlements,  14. 
Quincy  school  at  Boston,  245. 

Raikes,  Robert,  84, 

Railways,  development  of,  104. 

Rate  bill,  dates  of  abolition  of,  151; 
elimination  of,  by  cities,  148;  fight 
against,  in  New  York,  149;  use 
made  of,  147. 

Reading,  Pa.,  health  service  in,  396. 

Reading  school,  in  Boston,  225. 

Referenda  for  schools,  in  Indiana, 
135;  in  New  York,  149. 

Reformation,  the  protestant,  6; 
educational  consequences  of,  10. 

Reformatory  education,  history  of, 
384. 

Rein,  William,  work  at  Jena,  316. 

Religion,  national  and  state  aid  for, 
172. 

Religious  interest,  waning  of,  after 
about  1750,  38;  purpose,  domin- 
ance of,  28;  question  as  settled  by 
the    National    Constitution,    54; 

Religious  school,  transformation  of, 
into  state  school,  44. 

Reorganization  of  our  schools,  ad- 
vantage of,  451;  Flexner  modern- 
school  proposal  for,  462;  plans  in 
use  and  proposed,  460;  significance 
of  the  discussion,  465;  the  8-4 
plan,  454;  the  6-3-3  plan,  459. 

Revival  of  learning,  the  Italian,  5. 


INDEX 


515 


Revolutionary  War,  cost  of,  52,  77; 
effect  of.  on  schools,  51. 

Rewards  of  merit,  222. 

Rhode  Island,  early  school  legislation 
in,  69. 

Romans,  contribution  of,  2. 

Rousseau,  Jean  Jacques,  261. 

Rural  life,  educational  reorganiza- 
tion needed  for,  465;  changes  in 
nature  of,  347;  effect  of  changes 
on  schools,  468;  rural-life  problem, 
the,  467. 

Rural-school  consolidation,  469; 
county-unit  consolidation,  470; 
significance  of  such  consolidation, 
472. 

Russell,  William,  260,  271,  286. 

St.  Paul's  School,  6. 

Sampler,  A,  220. 

Santa  Barbara  plan,  the,  376. 

Scales,  standard,  446. 

Scandinavian  immigrants,  336. 

School  funds,  attempts  to  divide,  176; 
attempt  to  misappropriate,  137; 
beginnings  of  permanent  funds, 
130. 

School  gardening,  398. 

Schoolhouses,  building  of,  244;  seat- 
ing in,  245. 

School  laws,  early  state,  64. 

Schoolroom  interiors,  early,  36;  later, 
244. 

School  societies,  in  cities,  88;  rise  of, 
86;  work  of,  89,  115. 

School  superintendents,  and  univer- 
sity president  compared,  476;  ap- 
pointment vs.  election,  475;  early 
duties  of,  160,  474;  need  of  new 
basis  for  selecting,  279. 

School  supervision,  beginnings  of, 
l.V7;hy  ISfil,  {». 

!>tainable  atdif- 
nt  dates,  CJ 

Schools,  changes  in,  as  a  result  of 
the  social  ami  industrial  revolu- 
354;  character  of  colonial, 
35;  character  of  early  national, 
Ml;  new  national  demands  on, 
854;  religious  origins  of,  13. 
•   irMnu  tion  evolved,  300. 

Science  of  education.  I 


Scientific  organization  of  education, 
progress  toward,  441. 

Scientific  study  of  education,  a  re- 
cent, 446. 

Secularization  of  American  educa- 
tion, 171;  a  political  issue,  179; 
battle  for,  in  Massachusetts,  175; 
in  New  York  City,  177;  contest  in 
the  different  States,  179;  gradual 
nature  of  the  change  from  church 
to  state  schools,  173;  President 
Grant  proposes  a  constitutional 
amendment  to  prevent  aid  to 
church  schools,  180;  state  consti- 
tutions amended  to  prevent,  180. 

Seguin,  Edouard,  his  work,  390. 

Seward,  Governor,  and  the  religious 
question,  178. 

Shaw,  Mrs.  Quincy  A.,  325. 

Slater,  Samuel,  and  factory  schools, 
85. 

Smith-Hughes  bill,  the,  417. 

Smith-Lever  bill,  the,  430. 

Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the 
Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts,  23,  34, 
83. 

Soldan,  Louis,  305. 

South  Carolina,  early  school  legisla- 
tion in,  70;  education  in,  before 
the  Civil  War,  248. 

Southern  peoples,  migration  of,  73. 

Southern  States,  development  of, 
educationally  since  1900,  361; 
problems  faced  by,  after  the  Civil 
War,  250;  proposed  national  aid 
to,  251. 

Spanish-American  War,  effect  of,  on 
educational  development,  361, 
413. 

Standard  tests  and  scales,  446;  use 
<>f,  in  eliminations  in  course  of 
study,  449. 

State  control,  beginnings  of,  156. 

State  educational  institutions  for 
special  classes,  391. 

State  educational  policy,  Massachu- 
setts an  example  of,  477;  usual 
lack  of,  477. 

State  educational  rights,  the,  490, 
492. 

State  school,  origin  of,  from  religious. 


516 


INDEX 


State  school  funds,  beginnings  of, 
130;  struggle  to  preserve  in  Ken- 
tucky, 137. 

State  school  officers,  first,  157,  474. 

State  universities.  (See  Universities.) 

Stevens,  Thaddeus,  112. 

Stowe,  Calvin  E.,  ancestry  of,  171; 
Ohio  and  Prussia  compared,  275; 
Report  on  Elementary  Education 
in  Europe,  125,  274. 

Students,  listing  of,  by  rank,  46. 

Stutterers  and  stammerers,  classes 
for,  392. 

Suffrage,  extension  of,  108;  dates  of 
granting  full,  109;  educational 
significance  of  extension  of,  111. 

Summer  schools,  early,  216. 

Sunday  School  movement,  84;  So- 
cieties, 85. 

Supplementary  classes,  374. 

Surveys,  school,  447. 

Sweet,  John,  171. 

Taxation,  beginnings  of  state,  131; 

how  far  State  may  impose,  489; 

stages   in   development   of,    131; 

the   State's  right   to    levy,   488; 

types  of  early  permissive,  131. 
Taylor,  Orville,  260. 
Teacher,  a,  for  sale,  34;  importance 

of  work  of,  500,  504;  in  knowledge- 
type  school,  365;  in  new  type  of 

school,  368. 
Teacher-training  before   1860,   242, 

286. 
Teachers'  Institutes,  early  beginnings 

of,  168,  242. 
Teachers,  licensing  of,   in  colonies, 

35;  character  of,  in  early  national 

period,  241,  243. 
Technical  instruction,  first  provided, 

209. 
Technical    training,    what    it    paid 

Brooklyn  boys,  356. 
Tennessee,  early  school  legislation 

in,   70;  education  in,  before  the 

Civil  War,  249. 
Terman,  Lewis  M.,  451. 
Texas,  education  in,  before  the  Civil 

War,  250;  land  grants  of,  60. 
Textbooks,  when  provided  free,  151. 
Thirteenth  century,  the  wonderful,  4. 


Three  Rs,  evolution  of   school  of 

26,  215. 
Trade  and  industrial  schools,  410; 

first  in  the  U.S.,  414. 
Transplanting  of  schools,  early,  25. 

Ungraded  classes,  374. 

United  States  Bureau  of  Education, 
creation  of,  480;  need  for  enlarg- 
ing, 480,  482. 

University  extension,  431,  435. 

University  of  Wisconsin,  extension 
work  of,  436. 

University,  state,  attempt  to  create 
from  old  colleges,  80;  crowns  the 
educational  system  of  the  State, 
200;  development  of,  after  1819, 
207;  early  institutions  founded,  80; 
elimination  of  sectarianism  and 
politics  in,  208. 

Usher,  the,  229. 

Vacation  schools,  397. 

Vermont,  early  constitutional  pro- 
visions for  education  in,  63;  early 
school  laws  in,  65. 

Virginia,  early  school  legislation  in, 
68;  education  in,  before  the  Civil 
War,  247;  pauper-school  type,  21; 
university  of,  founded,  206,  258. 

Vocational  bureau,  in  Boston,  420. 

Vocational  education,  beginnings  of, 
in  U.S.,  413;  in  Europe,  412;  na- 
tional aid  for,  418;  National  Com- 
mission on,  414;  National  Com- 
mission findings,  416;  Smith- 
Hughes  bill  for,  417;  value  of,  in 
wages  earned,  420. 

Vocational  evening  schools,  a  type  of, 
424. 

Vocational  guidance,  419;  what  this 
can  do,  420. 

Volkschule,  German,  not  adopted 
in  the  U.S.,  282. 

War  for  Independence,  cost  of,  52, 
77;  effect  of,  on  schools,  45. 

Washington,  City  of,  early  schools  in, 
88. 

Washington,  George,  farewell  ad- 
dress of,  57;  will  of,  202. 

Webster,  Daniel,  on  education,  113. 


INDEX 


517 


Webster,  Noah,  his  History,  219, 
807;  his  Spelling  Book,  41,  174, 
216,  219. 

Western  Academic  Institute,  125, 
274. 

Whipping  of  pupils,  36. 

White,  Emerson  E.,  480. 

W'iley,  Calvin,  ancestry  of,  171; 
work  in  North  Carolina,  248. 

William  and  Mary  College,  legisla- 
tion for,  22;  attempt  to  change 
into  a  state  university,  80. 

Wisconsin,  early  school  legislation 
in,  76. 

Wolcott,  Governor,  his  opinion  of 
Lancastrian  schools,  95. 

Women,  early  education  of,  in  acad- 


emies,  188;    in  colleges,  209;   in 

early  public  schools,  216. 
Women  teachers,  rise  of,  209,  310. 
Woodbridge,  William  C,  260,  271. 
Workingmen,     demands      of,     114; 

their  demand  for  schools,  113, 125. 
World  War,  new  educational  duties 

revealed  by,  501;  weaknesses  in 

schools  revealed  by,  481. 
Worth  of  a  person  by  years,  394. 
Writing,  Pestalozzian  methods  in,  306. 
Writing  schools,  in  Boston,  225. 

Yale  College,  early  purpose  to  train 
ministers,  201 ;  foundation  of,  201c 

Ziller,  Tuiskon,  315. 


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